Hi my name is Benny and I have a big problem and I need a solution fast! A couple of days ago I shutdown my PC (HP Windows XP Media Center) and when I turned it on... I got a black screen and an error message saying... <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll. Please re-install a copy of the above file." <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> So then I tried to use Recovery, but that didnt work either! All I have got was a blue screen with an error message saying... <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> "STOP: C0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SECURITY or its log or alternate. It is corrupt, absent, or not writable." <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Then I have read online that I can boot from a Windows XP CD but I only have Windows XP Pro CD and my PC is Windows XP Media Center. So I tried using the XP Pro CD but I didnt know what to do... <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Please help me! I dont know what to do, and I dont know if I'm doing anything wrong... So please read this over carefully and tell me everything that you know! I have very important files on that PC that, so I cant reinstall Windows XP and loose them... <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Feel free to reply here on the forum or my email: benny11k@hotmail.com <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Thank you for your time, Benny

Hello Benny, It seems the current issue is an Windows system issue. Please understand that we mainly discuss Exchange issues in this forum. I suggest discussing this issue on our Windows XP newsgroup. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroups.mspx I hope your issue will be fixed soon. Thanks, Elvis