windows problem? or hardware? help needed!

[ToneLoc]

im running XP pro on
amd XP 3200+
768 mb ram
120 gig ATA/100 hdd (25 gigs partitioned for windows drive)
30 gig ata/66 drive
8x Nec dvd/rw
and this problem has just started happening, after a major crash that messed up windows, I used the XP recovery console to repair and I ended up losing a bunch of files from a non windows partition in the same drive. I just reinstalled XP last night and now this morning the hal.dll problem shos up again?
is it a faulty IDE cable?
power supply dying? (250 watt that came with compaq system)
or something else? im stumped. thanks for any help.
i'll post more details when im home from work.
-Tony

 

[Malak]

I would suggest a full virus scan.

 

[KB]

This can be caused by a corrupt boot.ini or faulty drives. Remove all hard-drives except your main drive and perform the steps documented at http://pcsupport.about.com/od/pcrepair/a/missinghal_dll.htm