hal.dll missing

[justlivyalife]

My sister's laptop is showing this error on Boot - wants me to reinstall that file.

I've tried running the recovery console from an XP disc I have at home (not the one that came with her laptop) and can get as far as it asking for the administrator password. I enter the password for the main laptop user account, and it rejects it, leave it blank and it rejects it.

Any ideas?

[justlivyalife]

Same error given in Safe Mode. hal.dll is missing or corrupt.

[justlivyalife]

All of which include going via the Recovery console - which I can't get into... I've been on that site for about half an hour.

I can't into Recovery console because the administrator password doesn't work.

[justlivyalife]

I've just found the Fujitsu Repar Disc so going to try repairing the Windows installation on that once I've done a backup of data, then if all else fails new install.

Cheers for your help guys!

[justlivyalife]

Managed to use the Windows CD to repair the installation - seems to be working fairly stable at the moment (at least).

Thanks again for the help.