Instead of rebooting, you may try
sudo /etc/init.d/dbus restart
This restarts dbus and a load of daemons which are dependent on it, including HAL. This had the same effect as a reboot for me.
<humour> $ /usr/sbin/hald --version HAL package version: 9000 I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that... </humour>
Instead of rebooting, you may try
sudo /etc/init.d/dbus restart
This restarts dbus and a load of daemons which are dependent on it, including HAL. This had the same effect as a reboot for me.
<humour>
$ /usr/sbin/hald --version
HAL package version: 9000
I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that...
</humour>