[aliengreen]

Hello GtG,

I originally had an ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard running a Pentium 4 3.0Ghz Socket 478 CPU, and changed to a Gigabyte GA-8IG1000MX when I accidentally fried the former. However, I could no longer get Windows XP to boot up. According to what I've researched on the Internet so far, and asking tech support at the PC shop where I bought the motherboard as well, I seem to get the same advice in general--run the XP installation CD and use the 'Repair' function to "reset" XP to the new motherboard. There's one problem though, I get this message sometime during the setup process-- "File hal.dll could not be loaded. The error code is 7. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit." What gives? Any help would be much, much appreciated.

Specs:
Pentium 4 3.0Ghz Socket 478
Gigabyte GA-8IG1000MX
4 x 512Mb Dual Channel DDR400 PC3200
40Gb Seagate 7200 IDE HDD
200Gb Seagate 7200 IDE HDD
160Gb Seagate SATA HDD
On board VGA

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Under XP you cannot change the board and expect it to boot. It needs a Windows Repair from your XP CD.
Your error would suggest there's an issue with that motherboard. Where did you get that 478 board from? It's not a current model.

[Neil Jones]

Under XP you cannot change the board and expect it to boot. It needs a Windows Repair from your XP CD.
Your error would suggest there's an issue with that motherboard. Where did you get that 478 board from? It's not a current model.

[aliengreen]

Thanks Neil, got the mobo from a surplus shop selling used boards. I felt bad about throwing away a good performing unit that just needed a mobo change, so there. There's a problem using the Recovery Console from the XP CD as you suggested, because I keep getting the Blue Screen of Death everytime i run it (0x07E Stop message). Would you recommend Flashing the BIOS instead?

[Neil Jones]

If the board is faulty flashing the BIOS isn't going to solve anything. I'd argue that board is defective, and this is the risk you take when you buy second-hand components. You'd have probably been better off replacing the board, processor and memory, getting a huge performance boost at the same time.

[aliengreen]

I agree on that point. Isn't it just funny how when saving on stuff you end up paying for more? Anyway, I've been planning on giving this unit to the kids eventually, so I'm not just about to give up yet. I took out the other RAM sticks and Hard Drives as well, basically seeing if a barebones setup would work, and looks like it might pull through. Now I just need to get past this setup error "File hal.dll could not be loaded.Error code is 7" and then I could get to the "Welcome to Setup" screen, where the repair console is located. My theory on this is I just need to let the old Windows XP recognize the new setup and maybe all will be well. Sadly, researching this problem on the Microsoft Support page turns up nothing. I am now considering a reformat and clean install instead.

[123Runner]

When changing boards and using the original OS on the hard drive,a repair XP is usually attemted. The best option is a complete reformat and reload of the OS (A fresh install).
This way the OS has the drivers for the new board.

Since your CD errors out, you could have a bad board or a dirty CD.

123runner

[aliengreen]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I finally pinned down the source of this humongous headache--bad memory modules. I took out 2 of my original 4 512Mb DDRs and it worked. I was then able to proceed with a clean install of XP. The motherboard is fine so far, and it's been a few days now without any hiccups (knock on wood). Oh but what a trip it has been! A lot of teeth-gnashing just trying to figure this one out. So, I just wanted to post this in case someone out there has a similar predicament in the future: when you are upgrading/swapping hardware and XP throws a fit, include the RAM in your system review checklist , especially if you get varying stop messages.

Again, thanks to all!