Serious problem with dual boot of WinME & WinXP (WinXP HDD crashed and replaced)

[anthony]

dear all,

appreciate if anyone could shed me any light to solve my problem,
situation below:

Previous Configuration
======================
Drive C [FAT32]: WinME (20G HDD)
Drive D [FAT32]: WinXP (60G HDD containing logical drives D & E)
Drive E [NTFS]

the system has been running fine for over 18 months but unfortunately
the 60G HDD was dead a few days ago. i replaced the 60G with a new 80G
HDD and plug it back to the system. then try to reinstall WinXP on the
new HDD.

The problem is, i cannot proceed with the installation setup after a
few steps. here's what i did:

1. Boot up the sys with the WinME floppy disk, then "sys c:"

2. the system is then rebooted with the floopy disk taken out and the
WinXP installation CD inserted

3. "Boot from CD" option chosen when the system start and the sys ask
if i wanna install XP, i chose yes and proceeded with the disk
checking [if i dont choose the Boot from CD option, the system will
just boot straight to WinME]

4. Both "C" (20G) and "D" (80G) found and i chose "D", then
installation program proceed to format the drive

5. After the drive is formatted and setup files copied to the HDD, the
system reboot itself to proceed the installation process

6. When the system reboot, the "Boot from CD" option shown again, i
tried once choosing that option but it just restarted the process from
step 3, then i just ignored the "boot from CD" option and let the
system proceed to boot from HDD

Problem occurred here: when the sys went to boot from HDD, an error
message was prompted in the DOS screen as

"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 suspect there's something still in the MBR of the drive "C"
partition that has not been completely cleared with the "SYS C:"
command. could anyone please advise what i should do to fix the
situation?

BIOS setting:
=============
Boot sequence - Floppy/ATAPI CDROM/HDD
Hardisk sequence - 20G/80G

Thanks very much for any suggestion!

cheers, anthony

[Jim]

Sounds to me you've made this waaaay too complicated. To be frank, I don't
even understand all this stuff about booting from WinME diskette, using the
sys c: command, etc.

All you need to do is boot from your WinXP CD and choose to partition and
format the new HD. It will become D: of course, then install to D:. Why all
the fuss? The MS boot loader will allow you to multi-boot as before. This
type of multi-boot install goes all the way back to Win95, NT 3.51, etc.,
pretty standard, straight-up stuff.

What am I missing here?

Jim

"anthony" > wrote in message
...
> dear all,
>
> appreciate if anyone could shed me any light to solve my problem,
> situation below:
>
> Previous Configuration
> ======================
> Drive C [FAT32]: WinME (20G HDD)
> Drive D [FAT32]: WinXP (60G HDD containing logical drives D & E)
> Drive E [NTFS]
>
> the system has been running fine for over 18 months but unfortunately
> the 60G HDD was dead a few days ago. i replaced the 60G with a new 80G
> HDD and plug it back to the system. then try to reinstall WinXP on the
> new HDD.
>
> The problem is, i cannot proceed with the installation setup after a
> few steps. here's what i did:
>
> 1. Boot up the sys with the WinME floppy disk, then "sys c:"
>
> 2. the system is then rebooted with the floopy disk taken out and the
> WinXP installation CD inserted
>
> 3. "Boot from CD" option chosen when the system start and the sys ask
> if i wanna install XP, i chose yes and proceeded with the disk
> checking [if i dont choose the Boot from CD option, the system will
> just boot straight to WinME]
>
> 4. Both "C" (20G) and "D" (80G) found and i chose "D", then
> installation program proceed to format the drive
>
> 5. After the drive is formatted and setup files copied to the HDD, the
> system reboot itself to proceed the installation process
>
> 6. When the system reboot, the "Boot from CD" option shown again, i
> tried once choosing that option but it just restarted the process from
> step 3, then i just ignored the "boot from CD" option and let the
> system proceed to boot from HDD
>
> Problem occurred here: when the sys went to boot from HDD, an error
> message was prompted in the DOS screen as
>
> "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 suspect there's something still in the MBR of the drive "C"
> partition that has not been completely cleared with the "SYS C:"
> command. could anyone please advise what i should do to fix the
> situation?
>
> BIOS setting:
> =============
> Boot sequence - Floppy/ATAPI CDROM/HDD
> Hardisk sequence - 20G/80G
>
> Thanks very much for any suggestion!
>
> cheers, anthony

[R. C. White]

Hi, Anthony.

I agree with Jason and Jim. You're making it too complicated. ;^}

First, there's no reason to do the Sys C:, but it didn't really hurt
anything. Just boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and start over. Let Setup
partition and format the second HD (see below for more comments on this).
When Setup finishes the text-based phase, during which it detects your
hardware configuration, it will reboot; at this point, let it boot to the
newly-installed-but-incomplete WinXP, not to the CD again. WinXP should
then continue with the GUI phase of Setup, including all the Registry
entries and other things that it has to do.

It was not clear from your first post how you plan to format your new HD.
How many partitions do you want or need, and do you want or need FAT32? Any
volume that will need to be accessible to WinME must, of course, be FAT32.
Microsoft has limited WinXP's ability to format FAT32 to volumes no larger
than 32 GB. WinME can format a FAT32 volume as large as about 127 GB, after
which WinXP can use the whole thing.

Since you've already been using WinME and WinXP for 18 months, you probably
know all this. I'm not sure how WinXP reacts if it hits the 32 GB limit
when formatting FAT32 because I've never tried it. Perhaps it just dies
without complaint, but then gives problems like you've seen when you try to
reboot to continue Setup. :>(

So, for your 80 GB drive, you can either:
1. Format the whole thing NTFS,
2. Create a partition <32 GB and have Setup format it FAT32, or
3. Boot to WinME or a DOS boot disk and format a large D: as FAT32.

If you still get the complaint of the missing hal.dll, please post a copy of
C:\boot.ini in your next post. That should tell us where WinXP expects to
find it and we can try to reconcile that with your HD/partition lineup.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP

"anthony" > wrote in message
...
> dear all,
>
> appreciate if anyone could shed me any light to solve my problem,
> situation below:
>
> Previous Configuration
> ======================
> Drive C [FAT32]: WinME (20G HDD)
> Drive D [FAT32]: WinXP (60G HDD containing logical drives D & E)
> Drive E [NTFS]
>
> the system has been running fine for over 18 months but unfortunately
> the 60G HDD was dead a few days ago. i replaced the 60G with a new 80G
> HDD and plug it back to the system. then try to reinstall WinXP on the
> new HDD.
>
> The problem is, i cannot proceed with the installation setup after a
> few steps. here's what i did:
>
> 1. Boot up the sys with the WinME floppy disk, then "sys c:"
>
> 2. the system is then rebooted with the floopy disk taken out and the
> WinXP installation CD inserted
>
> 3. "Boot from CD" option chosen when the system start and the sys ask
> if i wanna install XP, i chose yes and proceeded with the disk
> checking [if i dont choose the Boot from CD option, the system will
> just boot straight to WinME]
>
> 4. Both "C" (20G) and "D" (80G) found and i chose "D", then
> installation program proceed to format the drive
>
> 5. After the drive is formatted and setup files copied to the HDD, the
> system reboot itself to proceed the installation process
>
> 6. When the system reboot, the "Boot from CD" option shown again, i
> tried once choosing that option but it just restarted the process from
> step 3, then i just ignored the "boot from CD" option and let the
> system proceed to boot from HDD
>
> Problem occurred here: when the sys went to boot from HDD, an error
> message was prompted in the DOS screen as
>
> "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 suspect there's something still in the MBR of the drive "C"
> partition that has not been completely cleared with the "SYS C:"
> command. could anyone please advise what i should do to fix the
> situation?
>
> BIOS setting:
> =============
> Boot sequence - Floppy/ATAPI CDROM/HDD
> Hardisk sequence - 20G/80G
>
> Thanks very much for any suggestion!
>
> cheers, anthony

[anthony]

hi Jim,

thanks for the advice.
in fact, i was thinking the same but it just turned out to be not
possible to boot into WinXP installation screen when the system reboot
after the setup files copied to the new HDD. "The MS boot loader will
allow you to multi-boot as before" is not valid in my case as the
system will show

"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"

which i think should be the residue from the improper unplug of the
previous WinXP HDD....

cheers, anthony

"Jim" > wrote in message news:<54uza.31935$Dr3.7439@fed1read02>...
> Sounds to me you've made this waaaay too complicated. To be frank, I don't
> even understand all this stuff about booting from WinME diskette, using the
> sys c: command, etc.
>
> All you need to do is boot from your WinXP CD and choose to partition and
> format the new HD. It will become D: of course, then install to D:. Why all
> the fuss? The MS boot loader will allow you to multi-boot as before. This
> type of multi-boot install goes all the way back to Win95, NT 3.51, etc.,
> pretty standard, straight-up stuff.
>
> What am I missing here?
>
> Jim
>
> "anthony" > wrote in message
> ...
> > dear all,
> >
> > appreciate if anyone could shed me any light to solve my problem,
> > situation below:
> >
> > Previous Configuration
> > ======================
> > Drive C [FAT32]: WinME (20G HDD)
> > Drive D [FAT32]: WinXP (60G HDD containing logical drives D & E)
> > Drive E [NTFS]
> >
> > the system has been running fine for over 18 months but unfortunately
> > the 60G HDD was dead a few days ago. i replaced the 60G with a new 80G
> > HDD and plug it back to the system. then try to reinstall WinXP on the
> > new HDD.
> >
> > The problem is, i cannot proceed with the installation setup after a
> > few steps. here's what i did:
> >
> > 1. Boot up the sys with the WinME floppy disk, then "sys c:"
> >
> > 2. the system is then rebooted with the floopy disk taken out and the
> > WinXP installation CD inserted
> >
> > 3. "Boot from CD" option chosen when the system start and the sys ask
> > if i wanna install XP, i chose yes and proceeded with the disk
> > checking [if i dont choose the Boot from CD option, the system will
> > just boot straight to WinME]
> >
> > 4. Both "C" (20G) and "D" (80G) found and i chose "D", then
> > installation program proceed to format the drive
> >
> > 5. After the drive is formatted and setup files copied to the HDD, the
> > system reboot itself to proceed the installation process
> >
> > 6. When the system reboot, the "Boot from CD" option shown again, i
> > tried once choosing that option but it just restarted the process from
> > step 3, then i just ignored the "boot from CD" option and let the
> > system proceed to boot from HDD
> >
> > Problem occurred here: when the sys went to boot from HDD, an error
> > message was prompted in the DOS screen as
> >
> > "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 suspect there's something still in the MBR of the drive "C"
> > partition that has not been completely cleared with the "SYS C:"
> > command. could anyone please advise what i should do to fix the
> > situation?
> >
> > BIOS setting:
> > =============
> > Boot sequence - Floppy/ATAPI CDROM/HDD
> > Hardisk sequence - 20G/80G
> >
> > Thanks very much for any suggestion!
> >
> > cheers, anthony

[Brenda]

hi RC,

thanks very much for your advice.
my apologies for missing to include the underlying reason for the "sys c:"
step, when i plugged in the new HDD to the system and boot up normally, the
Dual boot screen will show up where i have only 1 sec to choose between
WinXP (non-existent) and WinME. If i choose WinXP, the same error message
about missing hal.dll will be prompted. however, i saw somewhere in the
newsgroup that doing a "sys c:" will skip the dual boot part, then i did so
and found out it worked. but as i mentioned in the post, i had done what you
suggested: boot from XP and start over, let setup format my HDD to NTFS,
text-installation screem, reboot, but failed in the part to "let it boot to
newly installed but incomplete WinXP", it cannot boot into the GUI screen (i
didn't choose CD boot this time) as only the error msg will be shown....

boot.ini file attached.

thanks very much for any futher input.

cheers, anthony
(using another account, please remove _ when replying email)

"R. C. White" > ¼¶¼g©ó¶l¥ó·s»D
...
> Hi, Anthony.
>
> I agree with Jason and Jim. You're making it too complicated. ;^}
>
> First, there's no reason to do the Sys C:, but it didn't really hurt
> anything. Just boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and start over. Let Setup
> partition and format the second HD (see below for more comments on this).
> When Setup finishes the text-based phase, during which it detects your
> hardware configuration, it will reboot; at this point, let it boot to the
> newly-installed-but-incomplete WinXP, not to the CD again. WinXP should
> then continue with the GUI phase of Setup, including all the Registry
> entries and other things that it has to do.
>
> It was not clear from your first post how you plan to format your new HD.
> How many partitions do you want or need, and do you want or need FAT32?
Any
> volume that will need to be accessible to WinME must, of course, be FAT32.
> Microsoft has limited WinXP's ability to format FAT32 to volumes no larger
> than 32 GB. WinME can format a FAT32 volume as large as about 127 GB,
after
> which WinXP can use the whole thing.
>
> Since you've already been using WinME and WinXP for 18 months, you
probably
> know all this. I'm not sure how WinXP reacts if it hits the 32 GB limit
> when formatting FAT32 because I've never tried it. Perhaps it just dies
> without complaint, but then gives problems like you've seen when you try
to
> reboot to continue Setup. :>(
>
> So, for your 80 GB drive, you can either:
> 1. Format the whole thing NTFS,
> 2. Create a partition <32 GB and have Setup format it FAT32, or
> 3. Boot to WinME or a DOS boot disk and format a large D: as FAT32.
>
> If you still get the complaint of the missing hal.dll, please post a copy
of
> C:\boot.ini in your next post. That should tell us where WinXP expects to
> find it and we can try to reconcile that with your HD/partition lineup.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
>
> Microsoft Windows MVP
>
> "anthony" > wrote in message
> ...
> > dear all,
> >
> > appreciate if anyone could shed me any light to solve my problem,
> > situation below:
> >
> > Previous Configuration
> > ======================
> > Drive C [FAT32]: WinME (20G HDD)
> > Drive D [FAT32]: WinXP (60G HDD containing logical drives D & E)
> > Drive E [NTFS]
> >
> > the system has been running fine for over 18 months but unfortunately
> > the 60G HDD was dead a few days ago. i replaced the 60G with a new 80G
> > HDD and plug it back to the system. then try to reinstall WinXP on the
> > new HDD.
> >
> > The problem is, i cannot proceed with the installation setup after a
> > few steps. here's what i did:
> >
> > 1. Boot up the sys with the WinME floppy disk, then "sys c:"
> >
> > 2. the system is then rebooted with the floopy disk taken out and the
> > WinXP installation CD inserted
> >
> > 3. "Boot from CD" option chosen when the system start and the sys ask
> > if i wanna install XP, i chose yes and proceeded with the disk
> > checking [if i dont choose the Boot from CD option, the system will
> > just boot straight to WinME]
> >
> > 4. Both "C" (20G) and "D" (80G) found and i chose "D", then
> > installation program proceed to format the drive
> >
> > 5. After the drive is formatted and setup files copied to the HDD, the
> > system reboot itself to proceed the installation process
> >
> > 6. When the system reboot, the "Boot from CD" option shown again, i
> > tried once choosing that option but it just restarted the process from
> > step 3, then i just ignored the "boot from CD" option and let the
> > system proceed to boot from HDD
> >
> > Problem occurred here: when the sys went to boot from HDD, an error
> > message was prompted in the DOS screen as
> >
> > "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 suspect there's something still in the MBR of the drive "C"
> > partition that has not been completely cleared with the "SYS C:"
> > command. could anyone please advise what i should do to fix the
> > situation?
> >
> > BIOS setting:
> > =============
> > Boot sequence - Floppy/ATAPI CDROM/HDD
> > Hardisk sequence - 20G/80G
> >
> > Thanks very much for any suggestion!
> >
> > cheers, anthony
>
>


begin 666 BOOT.INI
M6V)O;W0@;&]A9&5R70T*=&EM96]U=#TQ#0ID969A=6QT/6UU;'1I*# I9&ES
M:R@P*7)D:7-K*#$I<&%R=&ET:6]N*#$I7%=)3D1/5U,-"EMO<&5R871I;F<@
M<WES=&5M<UT-"FUU;'1I*# I9&ES:R@P*7)D:7-K*#$I<&%R=&ET:6]N*#$I
M7%=)3D1/5U,](DUI8W)O<V]F="!7:6YD;W=S(%A0(%!R;V9E<W-I;VYA;"(@
H+V9A<W1D971E8W0-"D,Z7" ](")-:6-R;W-O9G0@5VEN9&]W<R(-"@``
`
end

[Brenda]

i didn't do anything when it booted the second time, i just leave the
machine alone and let it boot into the supposed to be GUI setup screen,
however, it just show the error msg. The computer boot to ME fine. " If so
try booting to the CD and format drive D again then continue with setup and
do not boot to CD again" this was exactly what i did. the machine just
wouldn't boot into the GUI installation step, when it reboot after copying
all the setup files in the blue text screen, the sys just show the "missing
hal.dll" error message.

thanks a lot for your help.
(am using another PC, please remove _ when replying email)

"Jason" >
...
> When you booted to CD the second time did you do anyhting
> to cancel the setup?
> Will the computer boot to ME fine?
> If so try booting to the CD and format drive D again
> then continue with setup and do not boot to CD again
> Does setup continue fine this time?
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >dear all,
> >
> >appreciate if anyone could shed me any light to solve my
> problem,
> >situation below:
> >
> >Previous Configuration
> >======================
> >Drive C [FAT32]: WinME (20G HDD)
> >Drive D [FAT32]: WinXP (60G HDD containing logical
> drives D & E)
> >Drive E [NTFS]
> >
> >the system has been running fine for over 18 months but
> unfortunately
> >the 60G HDD was dead a few days ago. i replaced the 60G
> with a new 80G
> >HDD and plug it back to the system. then try to
> reinstall WinXP on the
> >new HDD.
> >
> >The problem is, i cannot proceed with the installation
> setup after a
> >few steps. here's what i did:
> >
> >1. Boot up the sys with the WinME floppy disk, then "sys
> c:"
> >
> >2. the system is then rebooted with the floopy disk
> taken out and the
> >WinXP installation CD inserted
> >
> >3. "Boot from CD" option chosen when the system start
> and the sys ask
> >if i wanna install XP, i chose yes and proceeded with
> the disk
> >checking [if i dont choose the Boot from CD option, the
> system will
> >just boot straight to WinME]
> >
> >4. Both "C" (20G) and "D" (80G) found and i chose "D",
> then
> >installation program proceed to format the drive
> >
> >5. After the drive is formatted and setup files copied
> to the HDD, the
> >system reboot itself to proceed the installation process
> >
> >6. When the system reboot, the "Boot from CD" option
> shown again, i
> >tried once choosing that option but it just restarted
> the process from
> >step 3, then i just ignored the "boot from CD" option
> and let the
> >system proceed to boot from HDD
> >
> >Problem occurred here: when the sys went to boot from
> HDD, an error
> >message was prompted in the DOS screen as
> >
> >"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 suspect there's something still in the MBR of the
> drive "C"
> >partition that has not been completely cleared with
> the "SYS C:"
> >command. could anyone please advise what i should do to
> fix the
> >situation?
> >
> >BIOS setting:
> >=============
> >Boot sequence - Floppy/ATAPI CDROM/HDD
> >Hardisk sequence - 20G/80G
> >
> >Thanks very much for any suggestion!
> >
> >cheers, anthony
> >.
> >

[R. C. White]

Xref: kermit alt.windows:25356 microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:584823 microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics:109041

Hi, Anthony.

I've pasted your boot.ini text here:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
C:\ = "Microsoft Windows"

Most of us are very leery about opening ANY attachment in a newsgroup,
especially from someone we haven't dealt with before. It's much better,
especially for a small text file like this, to just copy'n'paste it directly
into your newsgroup post. Also, please DO NOT email me a copy of your
message. Netiquette frowns on email responses to newsgroup posts unless
email is specifically invited or the subject veers from the topic of the
newsgroup. If you post it here, I'll probably see it - and so will many
readers who can probably help you more than I can.

> Dual boot screen will show up where i have only 1 sec to choose between

Your timeout is set to just 1 second in boot.ini; you could easily edit that
to a larger number, like the 30 seconds default. However, it won't matter
so long as you boot straight to WinME after running Sys C:.

You still haven't said how your new 80 GB drive is to be partitioned and
formatted. I'm assuming a single NTFS partition, where WinXP is to be
installed. The boot.ini you posted shows WinXP to be on
rdisk(1)partition(1), which would be the first partition of the second HD -
which should be your new Drive D:. WinXP should be in D:\WINDOWS, and the
HAL should be in D:\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll. MY WinXP SP1 hal.dll is
77,440 bytes, dated 8/29/02, just for comparison.

Maybe it would be best to just start again. Boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and
let it repartition and format D: and install WinXP again from scratch. Be
sure to interrupt the pre-GUI reboot and set your BIOS to boot from Drive
C:. (Even though WinXP will be on D:, the boot must always start from C:\,
and that's where boot.ini should be.) Just for the heck of it, you might
take a look at that "interim version" of boot.ini and see what it says
before the next phase of Setup writes the final version.

Searching Google for "error+corrupt+hal" turned up over 4,000 hits. Perhaps
one of them will lead you in the right direction. Here's one:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP

"Brenda" > wrote in message
...
> hi RC,
>
> thanks very much for your advice.
> my apologies for missing to include the underlying reason for the "sys c:"
> step, when i plugged in the new HDD to the system and boot up normally,
the
> Dual boot screen will show up where i have only 1 sec to choose between
> WinXP (non-existent) and WinME. If i choose WinXP, the same error message
> about missing hal.dll will be prompted. however, i saw somewhere in the
> newsgroup that doing a "sys c:" will skip the dual boot part, then i did
so
> and found out it worked. but as i mentioned in the post, i had done what
you
> suggested: boot from XP and start over, let setup format my HDD to NTFS,
> text-installation screem, reboot, but failed in the part to "let it boot
to
> newly installed but incomplete WinXP", it cannot boot into the GUI screen
(i
> didn't choose CD boot this time) as only the error msg will be shown....
>
> boot.ini file attached.
>
> thanks very much for any futher input.
>
> cheers, anthony
> (using another account, please remove _ when replying email)
>
> "R. C. White" > ¼¶¼g©ó¶l¥ó·s»D
> ...
> > Hi, Anthony.
> >
> > I agree with Jason and Jim. You're making it too complicated. ;^}
> >
> > First, there's no reason to do the Sys C:, but it didn't really hurt
> > anything. Just boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and start over. Let Setup
> > partition and format the second HD (see below for more comments on
this).
> > When Setup finishes the text-based phase, during which it detects your
> > hardware configuration, it will reboot; at this point, let it boot to
the
> > newly-installed-but-incomplete WinXP, not to the CD again. WinXP should
> > then continue with the GUI phase of Setup, including all the Registry
> > entries and other things that it has to do.
> >
> > It was not clear from your first post how you plan to format your new
HD.
> > How many partitions do you want or need, and do you want or need FAT32?
> Any
> > volume that will need to be accessible to WinME must, of course, be
FAT32.
> > Microsoft has limited WinXP's ability to format FAT32 to volumes no
larger
> > than 32 GB. WinME can format a FAT32 volume as large as about 127 GB,
> after
> > which WinXP can use the whole thing.
> >
> > Since you've already been using WinME and WinXP for 18 months, you
> probably
> > know all this. I'm not sure how WinXP reacts if it hits the 32 GB limit
> > when formatting FAT32 because I've never tried it. Perhaps it just dies
> > without complaint, but then gives problems like you've seen when you try
> to
> > reboot to continue Setup. :>(
> >
> > So, for your 80 GB drive, you can either:
> > 1. Format the whole thing NTFS,
> > 2. Create a partition <32 GB and have Setup format it FAT32, or
> > 3. Boot to WinME or a DOS boot disk and format a large D: as FAT32.
> >
> > If you still get the complaint of the missing hal.dll, please post a
copy
> of
> > C:\boot.ini in your next post. That should tell us where WinXP expects
to
> > find it and we can try to reconcile that with your HD/partition lineup.
> >
> > RC
> >
> > "anthony" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > dear all,
> > >
> > > appreciate if anyone could shed me any light to solve my problem,
> > > situation below:
> > >
> > > Previous Configuration
> > > ======================
> > > Drive C [FAT32]: WinME (20G HDD)
> > > Drive D [FAT32]: WinXP (60G HDD containing logical drives D & E)
> > > Drive E [NTFS]
> > >
> > > the system has been running fine for over 18 months but unfortunately
> > > the 60G HDD was dead a few days ago. i replaced the 60G with a new 80G
> > > HDD and plug it back to the system. then try to reinstall WinXP on the
> > > new HDD.
> > >
> > > The problem is, i cannot proceed with the installation setup after a
> > > few steps. here's what i did:
> > >
> > > 1. Boot up the sys with the WinME floppy disk, then "sys c:"
> > >
> > > 2. the system is then rebooted with the floopy disk taken out and the
> > > WinXP installation CD inserted
> > >
> > > 3. "Boot from CD" option chosen when the system start and the sys ask
> > > if i wanna install XP, i chose yes and proceeded with the disk
> > > checking [if i dont choose the Boot from CD option, the system will
> > > just boot straight to WinME]
> > >
> > > 4. Both "C" (20G) and "D" (80G) found and i chose "D", then
> > > installation program proceed to format the drive
> > >
> > > 5. After the drive is formatted and setup files copied to the HDD, the
> > > system reboot itself to proceed the installation process
> > >
> > > 6. When the system reboot, the "Boot from CD" option shown again, i
> > > tried once choosing that option but it just restarted the process from
> > > step 3, then i just ignored the "boot from CD" option and let the
> > > system proceed to boot from HDD
> > >
> > > Problem occurred here: when the sys went to boot from HDD, an error
> > > message was prompted in the DOS screen as
> > >
> > > "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 suspect there's something still in the MBR of the drive "C"
> > > partition that has not been completely cleared with the "SYS C:"
> > > command. could anyone please advise what i should do to fix the
> > > situation?
> > >
> > > BIOS setting:
> > > =============
> > > Boot sequence - Floppy/ATAPI CDROM/HDD
> > > Hardisk sequence - 20G/80G
> > >
> > > Thanks very much for any suggestion!
> > >
> > > cheers, anthony