Windows XP Pro missing hal.dll with TrueCrypt

OK so first off I'm using a Panasonic CF-29, Windows XP Pro SP3, 40gig HDD. It has nothing on it I care about losing, but I'd rather not just format and install Windows again (took me three months to get this copy to work with Panasonic's insane drivers. It had a dual boot with Windows and Linux, but I removed it, broke the boot, then accidentally fixed it. (Installed then uninstalled GAG) So the system was working fine and started up and shut down fine until I encrypted the whole drive with TrueCrypt. Then after it prompted, and I entered, the password It just said Error cannot boot missing file [System Root]\System32\hal.dll. After a great deal of reading on the subject, the answer seems to be "Lolz I has no clue what I did.) I found the .dll and have another system with Windows XP Pro on it so reference and replacement files are no problem, however I was wondering if anyone knew a definitive solution before I spend two months encrypting and decrypting the HDD till something works.
If anyone knows anything it would be much obliged.

Update:
The HDD finally finished decrypting. It started the first time after and now just crashed to a generic blue screen for about a fifth of a second before restarting from the BIOS screen. I'm going to try GAG or SuperGRUB again and see if I can accidentally fix the boot again.

Update 2:
No luck. They didn't do anything. looks like I'm going to have to either re-install windows or see if my friend has an external hard drive caddy so I can manually repair the MBR.