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Reinstalling XP

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3 replies

by bill

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I have been trying to help a friend that had her computer go black. It's a Dell Laptop from about 2000. I tried formating the C drive and installing XP pro. I get the error that the hal.dll file is corrupt or missing. I can't get it to start in Safe mode or any other way. I get to the "R"epair portion of the XP CD but it takes me to a dos prompt. The only allowed entries there seem to be the list from "help". I tried the d:\copy windows\system32\hal.dll c:\windows\system32\hal.dll and it can't find the file. I'm at a standstill after about 10 hours of trying to get it up.

3 replies

by mr.wiz

Boot from the XP cd and then start the install over again.

by desktop veteran

You could just re-install XP, but you would loose everything from before the repair. A better option is to boot from the XP CD. Continue on as though you are installing XP for the first time (by passing the recovery console), you will have a second opportunity to do a recovery. Once you've chosen the C: drive for the install, you will see the option to "repair" this installation. You will retain most of your settings, and most of the software will NOT need to be reinstalled.

Good luck.

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