OS being tricky to install

K

Kengren

New Member
I just got a new hard drive, and would like to install XP onto it, but when i restart my computer i get a message that says something like "<window root> \system32\hal.dll" is missing. I have no other drives hooked up in this computer and does anyone know how i can fix this?!
 
well, i need to know more info, at what step in the process of installing the OS are you getting this problem? if it is after the initial step of installing basic files and drivers, you could have a bad harddrive, or you may need to start over. if its before that, then you have a bad disk or bad RAM. if you cant describe what step this is happening at, maybe you could post a picture of the screen with the error.
 
It happens when i turn the computer on... it is the second screen where it says "push any key to boot from cd" and then it wait a few seconds and then that error pops up saying that whole missing hal.dll. If i do continue and push press a key to boot from cd, i get through the set up just fine until the agreement. That is where i cannot push f8 to agree. I figured this has something to do with the hal.dll file
 
doubtful, if it was the cable then your BIOS would not recognize the harddrive at all, so if you can see the drive in the BIOS you are fine. what happens when you press F8?
 
when i press f8 right in the beggining, my bios comes up and i can see my hard drive there. When i press f8 at the agreement page, it does nothing. it literally just sits there. i can scroll up and down, even exit, but i cannot agree. This is a legit copy of windows and i dont see why it wouldnt let me
 
that is a very strange problem, i have never seen that before. i dont think it has anything to do with your harddrive, but you never know i guess. i would start with teh RAM. download memtest, burn it to a disk, then run it and make sure your RAM is ok.
 
how do i do that, it is a fresh drive with nothing on it. and i dont have any harddrives i can install without pissing off my roommate by ripping apart his comp
 
you dont need a working harddrive to test with memtest, memtest creates a boot CD, which you boot off of, then run the test. google it.
 
Kengren said:
thanks for all of your help, but i gotta go to bed, i will figure this out in the morning... Night
Click to expand...

gnight, but for Memtest:

google memtestx86
download the program and make a boot floppy out of it on ur roomates comp.
boot up with your comp.

and run the test for 3-4 hours.

oh and btw, it most likely not ur ram.
 
Kengren said:
but i cannot agree. This is a legit copy of windows and i dont see why it wouldnt let me
Click to expand...

Have you tried scrolling all the way down? Sometimes when installing programs/OSs, you can't agree until you've scrolled the licence agreement all the way down so as to assure the computer that the licence agreement has been read (har har har you wish b**** :P) and it can safely assume that you're aware that since it's a microsoft product you have absolutely *NO* rights whatsover and you're on your own.
 
I scrolled up, down, and if i could, i would of done sideways too, but it still doesnt work, and i am going on almost 9 hours for that ram test now... it just might be the ram
 
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