[jen1]

Ok so my computer has been painfully slow because I had previously used Kazaa and also got a bunch of spyware on it ... I bought it from dell 3 years ago now. I finally decided today that I would re-install windows xp on the computer using the XP professional disk I got with my dell laptop 2 weeks ago. (I have no clue what happened to the disk I got with the computer originally.)

Long story short, I tried running the installation and it tells me it can't install nvraidco.dll and I re-tried it several times and then tried skipping it. It then cannot install any other file after that! So I tried restarting it.

Anyways now windows does not load at all. It automatically boots to the black screen that says "please select the operating system to start:" so I press F8 for troubleshooting options, because choosing either XP home or XP professional will just get me back to where I started.

I choose "start windows in safe mode" . It then goes back to the "choose the operating system" page ("start windows in safe mode" is highlighted in blue at the bottom) and I try XP professional.

I then get this error message -

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I press enter and it restarts and i'm back to square one.

If anyone has any suggestions, or if anyone can just let me know gently if I've killed my computer, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Jen

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You're committing a whole bunch of major no-nos. You can only use an XP disk on one machne, it isn't legal to use it on more than one unless you've bought product keys from Microsoft. What's more, MS tracks XP installations, if it find two or more machines with the same product key it will put those installtions on a black list and yu can't get updates or service packs. You're using disks from one type of system on another type. If you have serious problems with malware or non-removable files you should write the disks to zeros and reformat before you reinstall or you may still have problems.

Under the circumstances what I'd suggest now is to buy a new copy of XP, you may be able to get a replacement from the computer maker cheaply or even for free. Then download software to write the drive to zeros, if you know the brand name of the drive go to the makers website, Dell usually uses Maxtor, if so get PowerMax and do a low level fomat. Then try a new install and good luck.

[Tyger]

You're committing a whole bunch of major no-nos. You can only use an XP disk on one machne, it isn't legal to use it on more than one unless you've bought product keys from Microsoft. What's more, MS tracks XP installations, if it find two or more machines with the same product key it will put those installtions on a black list and yu can't get updates or service packs. You're using disks from one type of system on another type. If you have serious problems with malware or non-removable files you should write the disks to zeros and reformat before you reinstall or you may still have problems.

Under the circumstances what I'd suggest now is to buy a new copy of XP, you may be able to get a replacement from the computer maker cheaply or even for free. Then download software to write the drive to zeros, if you know the brand name of the drive go to the makers website, Dell usually uses Maxtor, if so get PowerMax and do a low level fomat. Then try a new install and good luck.

[Murray S.]

Howdy and welcome to G2G:

Do you have the original key code that was used to install XP on your old system??

If you do, then you are more than within your rights to use your new XP cd to install XP.. It isn't the disk that makes it legal, but the license (original key code)..

As long as the XP is NOT labeled as a recovery or restore cd, then you may still be in luck IF you have that original keycode..

If you don't, you may still be able to install XP but it will quit working in 30 days or less as you won't be able to activate it!! Has nothing to do with having the key code "blacklisted" !!

Murray