SYMPTOMS
When you start Microsoft Windows XP, you may receive the following error message:
Windows could not start because of an error in the software. Please report this problem as : load needed DLLs for kernel. Please contact your support person to report this problem.
CAUSE
This issue may occur if the Hal.dll and Ntoskrnl.exe files are mismatched.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, start your computer from the Windows CD, and then perform an in-place upgrade of Windows. For additional information about how to do so, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: