One computer in the office today got an hal.dll error when she open her computer. Being the IT in the room I was ask for help. First look I know that it is repairable by going to Recovery Console and replacing the missing file. But I was reluctant to repair it because I'm not hired as IT but a database consultant and I don't Windows XP install CD.I advised my office mate to report it to our IT helpdesk. OK, so after few hours I saw her working on another workstation as her laptop (Dell Latitude d630) is diagnosed to have faulty HDD, to my surprised I've chatted our IT personnel to ask what happened. Our IT department is good, they've run Dell diagnostic tool which reported the said issue.
So her laptop is now waiting for Dell technician to replace the HDD, good that its still under warranty but sorry that she lost most of her files.
After few research I've found out that my bet of repairing it via recovery console is the best solution but this is provided that the HDD is healthy which is not my case.
See my resources:
Just another computer troubleshooting reference. :)
