When my son PUT a disk in yesterday the computer just kept churning on it. Ctrl-Alt-Del did not solve the problem so I shut it down with the power BUTTON. When I started it back up I got a message saying that the \system32\hal.dll file was either missing or corrupt. After research online I tried a few things to fix the problem to no avail (tried to reboot, tried to boot with system disk and repair the file etc.) Now I'm to the point that I cannot even boot the computer with the XP boot disk. I am not even given the option. When I try to open the BIOS to tell the computer to boot from the disk the computer locks up with an array error.

I've had someone suggest that it could be the power supply, which I have checked with a multimeter and that appears to be fine. Another suggestion was that it could be the CD ROM controller which is integrated into the motherboard. Can this be the problem??? Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, this problem is with my kids computer which is not hooked up to the internet, nor have we installed or changed any programs lately.You might want to read this (if you haven't ALREADY):
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htmThanks. I'll try to copy the file from a GOOD machine and see what happens.First thing i would do is dis-connect the offending drive and see if it will boot properly.
If not BORROW a known good PSU of the same or greater wattage and swap it in there...