Hal.dll problem in XP Pro

Dearest TSG;

Few days ago, my XP pro displayed this message at startup:

[ The following file is missing or corrupted:
'windowsroot'\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of this file ]

And when you press any key, the computer restarts.

And as a daring knight, I inserted the XP CD, ran setup, and chose the Recovery Console option available at the start of the XP installation.

In this console, there's a limited set of commands you could use and you can't use any .exe file outside this set. I ran EXPAND on HAL.DL_ found in the XP CD, and overwritten the already present HAL.DLL in the SYSTEM32 folder. Unfortunatly, this didn't work.

I also couldn't run REGSVR32.exe from inside the console to register the dll file, since it won't let me.
I also couldn't run XP in SAFE MODE, nor in any other mode available at startup.

What can I do?? and does reinstalling XP again over the existing one, will end me up in a fresh driver-less XP?

 

had similar problems recently and unfotunately had to reinstall
xp but only after reformatting the c drive as there at least seemed .
no other way to do it after trying every sugestion from the board