My original, excellent assisting Geek has gotten busy with some personal matters and has suggested I start a new topic. I am currently working from a different newer computer, so should be accessible during any processes needing to be performed on the ACER.
Last year I was having problems with the Windows XP program on my old Acer and first had it thoroughly checked for malware and then had various repairs tried, all unsuccessfully. It was finally decided I'd need to reinstall the Windows XP program; here is the original thread:
Multiple problems on old Acer; need Malware Check
Thereafter, I found a temporary solution to the worst problem so procrastinated a bit but eventually did get nearly everything backed up, and because there had been concern that the hard drive might be failing, I had started looking for a replacement drive. While looking on the Seagate site, I happened upon their program to check the original hard drive, so I (perhaps inadvisedly) downloaded it and ran the short generic scan which said everything was fine. Then I started the longer generic scan...which was also supposed to just look, not do anything like perform fixes...but when I returned a while later, I found the BSOD. I can restart using f2, getting to the point where it has the options of using Safe Mode, Last Good Configuration, etc. but using any of the choices gives me a message that it can't find this file:
...windows root\sys32\hal.dll
I have the 4 original discs (1 system, 3 recovery) which came with the computer, plus extra versions of them all which were made directly from the system early in the computer's life. On the recommendation of the previous owner, who also thought this step wouldn't erase document files (which I'd prefer not to do yet), I tried running the first ACER-supplied system disc, to no avail. I would think that abstraction layer would be very close to the 'bottom' so had hoped the first (system) disc would fix it ... but decided to get further advice here when it didn't. I wanted to double-check my files against the back-ups before purposely deleting them all when trying to reinstall the programs. Also, nothing seemed to happen when running the first disc so am not sure running all will do anything either. Thus I am now Impatiently awaiting further instructions from a new helper as to what else is possible.
I need to get this system up and running before the MS support for Win XP ends in a few weeks.
.
Edited by TooNew2, 21 March 2014 - 11:27 PM.