Windows cant start (hal.dll error)/ XP reinstall

[acd]

I was using my friends computer, and I installed LimeWire and downloaded a funny video clip. I uninstalled it, and my friend restarted his computer for some reason. Then at the screen this message came up.

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.

My friend is extremely pissed at me, and will never trust me ever again with his comp.
I've Tried to run the Recovery Console from his neighbor's illegal copy of Xp, however after pressing R to repair the only option is to reinstall windows, it doesn't bring me to any command prompt to type stuff.

So my questions are
1. My friend doesn't have his XP cd so can I use any other XP cd for this process? Will an illegal copy of Xp work?

2. If I reinstall windows XP will my friend's data from his harddrive be erased? (either on an illegal or legal copy of XP)

3. What was the cause of this error? Was it my fault for installing Limewire? He doesn't have any Firewall or Antivirus programs.

I appreciate the help.

Thanks for the info boomdawg.
So to prevent my friend from losing his data could i transfer the data from his harddrive to his other computer? Will this hal.dll error interfere with this?

 

[boomdawg]

Any legit copy of XP will work and if you still have his product key you can just put that in when it asks. Try not going to recovery console but hitting Enter at that point then selecting the install of windows on the next screen then pressing R. Before that even can you boot into safe mode? Hal.dll is in the system32 folder so if you can get into safemode you can try to delete it and make windows remake it on the next boot. If it works great, if not Windows was hosed anyway.

If you do a normal install yes, your friends data will be lost, of this I am almost certain. If you want to start down that path Windows install has 2 or 3 warning that your data will be lost if you continue and at each one you can go back without losing a thing.

I suppose it's possible that limewire caused this though it's unlikely limewire itself would even try to do anything with hal.dll. If I had to guess, I'd say the file you downloaded either came with something it shouldn't have or it's a random odd coincidence (hal.dll has to do with drivers and access to hardware control).