I just bought a new hard drive for my computer (a 160 GB Seagate internal hard drive) because the old hard drive had died. When I tried installing windows xp pro and then restarting, I got an error message that said that the OS could not load because the file hal.dll had either been corrupted or was missing. I tried reinstalling several times and kept getting the same error message. I tried using the recovery mode on the installation cd, but it really didn't tell me much, except that the file was located in the system32 folder. Does anyone know what the problem is? I would really appreciate any help.
Try a low level format of the HD and format a smaller partition such as 8 gig or so. Also make sure that the copy of WinXP is good and clear of scratches or defects.
I had a similar issue years ago, when NT was around and found out that depending on whether you had a single or dual processor, you had to use the appropriate hal.dll. I doubt it relates to your problem, but it is something to think about - If for nothing more than to make your problem even more confusing. Good luck
