Im not techno minded, but really need some help.
My old laptop was running slow..so invested in newie. Copied everything I needed across, and decided to wipe old one .
HERES what i did..inserted windows XP disk..started to run..then stopped.
So..i BOOTED from the cd..fine..got halfway through installing new xp and stopped.
Now i try to start up and it keeps saying hal.dll file missing.
Heres what I have at my supply...a vista upgrade cd..which allowed me to at least get to a dos prompt.
Tried entering the DETAILS from this help page for hal.dll on dos..says BOOT.ini missing.
Asking to reinstall copy of root>\system32\hal.dll. file
Where can I find this file , and how do I reinstall
I also have a windows xp cd..with my key.
Application and driver recovery dvd..borrowed.
operating system cd for windows xp..borrowed.
Any ideas?
I would like to restore it to just the basics so my son can use it.
ThanksLaptops normally ship with their own (OEM) version of Windows...is this what you tried the re-install with or with an MS XP CD ? ?Before you re-install the OS ... I would boot with Dban or kill disk and erase that HD...After you nuked your hard drive....That's when I would boot with the XP installation disk.

Google dban or kill disk for the free downloads.

Good luck