I'd tell you about my computer, but I forgot specs and I can't exactly look them up if I can't get into my computer.

It's a Dell PC that's a several years old. 2 Hard Drives, one 115GB the other 60. Both over a year old

Anyway, I was reinstalling XP, and at first, when it asked me to press F12 to boot, I would, and it ignored this and continued on to the login screen.

After this, I tried installing striaight from the CD while logged in. This worked, but did not let me format my C drive so that I could repartition it.

So, I switched my two Hard Drives (actually, just the CABLE) and this time, it would act as though I had a blank Hard Drive, and setup all these files before asking me if I wanted to install XP. I would (and it recognized only the main drive no matter how many times a switched it) and then it wold restart and it would do the exact same thing, as though I hadn't installed XP. The only indication that it had, was that it would ask me if I wanted to install over another system.

Anyway, after some fiddling, it finally stopped doing this, and now, when I start up my system, it tell me that:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll. Please re-install a copy of the above file.

The problem is that it still does not let me boot from anything. It just ignores me pressing F12 (and F2 for setup) and gives me this error message. I'm guessing that if I could just boot from the CD and reinstall XP, my problems would be almost over.

Anyone got any suggestions?Ok , First when your computer Boots and and ASKS you to push a button

Hit F2 , go into the Bios, and Find the Boot order Page, make sure Cd ROM is a The Top of the List, as in First Boot Device

Then Try Booting again, it should Read the Cd and Say Press Any Key to Boot from CD


Also is it A Real XP Cd or a Dell XP cd?
or is it a Recovery CD?
Sorry, I'll elaborate.

At first, before I reinstalled XP, I would hit F12, and it would give me a list of possible things to boot from. I would select boot from CD, and then when it said "Hit any key to boot from CD" I would hit Enter, and it would take me to the login sceen (it did not boot from CD).

Now, it does not take me to the boot screen, nor does it take me to the setup screen. It pretty much ignores the command, and I'm fairly certain that the problem does not lie in my keyboard.

Edit: It is a real XP CD, with real product key and everything.Oh. My. Goodness. I have not been this computer embarassed in a while.

My keyboard. Was not PLUGGED in.

:-/

I hope that the install works now.

Edit: Sigh, nope. I'm having the exact same problem a I did before. F12, boot screen, select CD, and it ignores this and takes me to the error I mentioned before. So I assume that it is just not booting from the CD for some reason.Has you CD Become Damaged?

You could try Booting off something else an Loading up Dos, then Running winnt from then CD to start the install the Old fashioned way

http://www.bootdisk.com/I strongly recommend using Smart Boot Manager. If you can boot from a floppy, you can boot from pretty much anything. Find a link in the software FAQ (see my signature).I doubt that the problem lies in the CD, as I JUST got it, and the CD installed correctly every time it asked me to.

As for Smart BootManager, I'm probably wrong, but I don't see how I can use it if I can not get into windows. Am I supposed to burn the program to a CD from another computer? (I am currently on my laptop)Quote

Am I supposed to burn the program to a CD from another computer? (I am currently on my laptop)