My Aspire One with Linux has also fialed with the internal error "failed to initialize HAL!". I used the recovery disk and it has the same failure.

Did Acer push a BIOS update?

Did you fix the internal error "failed to initialize HAL!"? I just got a new Aspire One with Linux, and have had the same problem. I wonder if it could be fixed by partition and format the hard drive and install Windows XP. Thanks.

Did you fix the internal error "failed to initialize HAL!"? I just got a new Aspire One with Linux, and have had the same problem. I wonder if it could be fixed by partition and format the hard drive and install Windows XP. Thanks.

Yes, I fixed it by recovering the system as described here:
http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000527.html

I get the error now...but nothing is broken. Wifi and the left card reader (at least) still work fine.

Hey folks, this happened to my son's Acer Aspire One. Here is how I fixed it:

1) Go to the command line. You can do this by holding down the Alt key, then pressing F2. Once you receive a windows that says, "Run Program",type "xterm" (without quotes).

2) If you have never set your root password before, type "sudo su -", again with no quotes.

If you have already logged in as root before AND have set a password for root, become root by typing "su" (no quotes) and enter your root password.

3) Type this:

"cd /etc" (Again, without quotes) then hit your enter key.

4) Then type this command:

"ls -al mt*" (Again, no quotes)

There will be a few files, your mtab being one of them. In my case, some of them had dates next to them.

5) Remove all of those files:

"rm -rf mt*" (again, no quotes)

6) Reboot your computer.

7) Hopefully, all your devices should be working again. I'm not sure if there is mtab corruption going on here, or why it would corrupt hal. I hope this works for you guys; it worked for me.

Thamks a lot, Bill. That fixed my problem, just a few hours after buying it, it gave this fatal error.

Thanks Bill Dorrian it works for me !!!!!

Bill Dorrian on April 29, 2009 10:15 PM

Thanks! for the code (above post), it has fixed my acer aspireone running Linpus Linux Lite v1.0.21.E. BIOS version v0.3305.
one error returned by "rm -rf mt*" which is:
ls: cannot access mtab~3952: Input/output error
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 395 2009-07-25 21:43 mtab

however, the machine seems to be working fine.

Anyone know what to install to make a Bluetooth adapter work on this Fedora based Linpus Linux Lite OS?

All the help appreciated, as usual.................

Thank you so much Bill Dorrian, finally someone posted that info in a way anyone can understand. It fixed my Acer aspire one after an online update and reboot failed to initialize HAL. It took me about 7 hours of searching to get here!

I'd found a similar instruction but was typing in including " etc and got nowhere as good desciption was missing. Thanks again Bill.

Barry H.

Help, at this part>>>5) Remove all of those files:

"rm -rf mt*" (again, no quotes)

6) Reboot your computer.

How do i remove the files? when i type rm -rf and hit enter, files are still there, so shut off comp,, still not working,,thanks

rm -rf mt*

like that! works!

just encountered this problem, when I get to cd/etc it says "no such file" as there isn't one on this acer, then at stage 4 it says "no such file or directory" so I'm stuck what do I do?

Katie, you need to put a space between "cd" and "/etc".

geeez!! THANKS A LOT BILL DORRIAN!!I've been browsing the web for a week, and now i finally found the answer to this problem...wew

I occasionally gets the "HAL-warning". But the machine seems to work nicely anyway.

Or is this the cause to a fairly constant need to reinstall the system?

Should i bother tho fix it?

AJ