SP3 Update corrupting hal.dll

[Bandicoot]

Gidday everybody,
An old problem has resurfaced! Microsoft update SP3 is again corrupting the hal.dll! Further more, when you think you have it solved..and ..you haven't! Since the hal.dll file covers all your pc hardware..you end up having no installation ID! Since all of this is microsoft script, their isn't an antivirus in the world to stop this! So much for automatic updates! As luck would have it, I remembered a post by Sovereign, in 2007, I think..HOWTO: Fix a corrupted HAL.DLL file..great reading!
Well. here's a add to this one! You do your sequence, chkdsk /r/f, rewrite boot.ini, use Bart etc..lets say it all fails! So you go and install a new XP, under a different name..of course, copy over the newly created hal.dll, so everything is solved! Bull!

Just thought I might mention it! Just had this problem yesterday with one of my friends PCs..talk about grief! Luckily he had an IDE HDD, as the new SATA Hard disk Wizard does not seem to be too effective..ended up still writing "0's".

Anybody else run into this problem lately, as I would like to no more ....