This is from <a target="_blank" href=http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/xpehelp/html/xeconHALDLLisMissingorCorrupt.asp>http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/xpehelp/html/xeconHALDLLisMissingorCorrupt.asp</a>:
"HAL.DLL is Missing or Corrupt
The hardware abstraction layer (HAL) is missing from your system or is corrupt, or the boot drive contains one or more driver versions that are not the correct version for your run-time image.
Resolution
Be sure you copied Boot.ini, Ntdetect.com, and Ntldr from your run-time image to the root directory of your target system's boot drive, overwriting prior versions of these files.
Be sure you added a HAL in your configuration.
If a HAL was added, remove it from your configuration, and then add the HAL again."
There's many more entries at:
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.google.com/search?q=hal.dll&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N>http://www.google.com/search?q=hal.dll&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N</a>
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement