Annoyances.org
Home » Troubleshooting » Article 07-100 Search | Help | Home
  
Making Sure the Correct HAL is Installed

Intended For
Windows XP
Windows 2000
The HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) is a set of drivers, upon which the Windows NT kernel is based. If the installed HAL is incorrect, you may have a problem ranging from certain settings not working (such as APM) to Windows not starting at all. Note that the concept of a HAL doesn't apply to Windows 95, 98, and Me.

To see which HAL is currently installed, open Device Manager, and expand the Computer branch. The entry that appears in this branch corresponds to the currently installed HAL.

Although Windows will allow you to specify a new HAL here by double-clicking, selecting the Driver tab, and clicking Update Driver, DON'T DO IT. Instead, to install a new HAL, you need to reinstall Windows:

  • Boot off your Windows 2000 or XP CD.
  • When asked if you want to install or repair your current installation, choose Install.
  • Then, follow the steps to upgrade Windows (even though you're not technically upgrading, you are updating your HAL).
  • That should do it!


Written by: Annoyances.org
Last updated: Friday, August 10, 2001

Care to discuss this article with other Windows users? Select your operating system here, and click Continue to post your question.

Previous discussions about this article:
(open a message to see applicable responses, if any)

Return to "Troubleshooting"

All content at Annoyances.org is Copyright © 1995-2008 Creative Elementtm All rights reserved.
Please do not plagiarize; redistributing these pages without permission is strictly prohibited.