Having read the BSOD stickie, I'm afraid that what I've done to the laptop in the past 2 days won't give me that info (sorry). So I think I'll give you the long story of what has been tried so far (and pray that someone on here can give a newbie some further advice).

I've searched through other BSOD threads, but I can't find anything remotely similar to this problem (or anything that actually made sense to me that is, as a lot were really complicated)

Appologies to admin if I'm posting this in the wrong section but I don't know if this is a software xp prob or a hardware prob.

The machine (which is 4 weeks out of warranty) has for a while now been turning itself off for no apparent reason, so as you do, I formatted it using the partitioned recovery utility - pc angel? (think thats what its called). Anyhow, it worked ok and the machine would work for days without shutting off.

4 days ago, my hubby left it to download the windows update and went out. We came back to find that the machine had switched itself off and when he turned it back on, he saw the PC angel screen pop up, flash and it turned off! I turned it back on to find the curser in the boot up screen doing a merry dance across the LCD!
So I turned it off again. The 2nd time I turned it back on, I pressd F2 to enter into the BIOS, which loaded ok. Now since I've been out of pc stuff for a few years and knew to leave the BIOS bits alone, I came out of it.

A friend of mine suggested that I try pressing F8 on the machine when I turned it back on, so I did and tried to boot it up in safe mode. It started to load for a few mins and it looked like it was loading windows until I got a blue screen message telling me that the System32\hal.dll file was missing, and it shut off!

Anyway, to cut a lot more processes short, and the hard drive being removed and placed in another laptop, having xp loaded onto it ok with no probs and then bing reinserted into my machine only to fail on boot up again. I've now completely wiped the hard drive (as I now realise the error with the wrong key being put in etc..).
I took the machine to a large pc retail outlet and asked for a bit of advice there, and they suggested it could be memory (it was closing time and so didn't leave it with them).

So someone else suggested that I run one of these memory test things. its done 22 tests and was still going.... all OK.... (they neglected to tell me to stop it after 3!!!)

So now I'm stuck. I wish I'd found this forum 4 days ago as I somehow think you people would be able to help better than my friend has

I'm not bothered about having all the stuff that came with the machine to begin with, but if someone could assist me in getting windows xp loaded back onto it, I'd be grateful ...or have I goosed it completely?

Hey Amanda And Welcome To PCHF.We Will try Our Best to Fix Your
Problem.
Ive seen other people with hal.dll problems so we might as well try to fix that first.Then we can see if theirs other problems as well.

HOW TO PERFORM AN 'IN PLACE UPGRADE' / SYSTEM REPAIR

Is your system unable to boot into Windows XP/2000 or even Safe Mode? Whether you get a blue screen or XP/2000 just hangs, then this information is for you. This will allow you to repair your Windows XP/2000 installation (hopefully) without having to losing your data or settings.

Indications:

* May allow Windows to load properly if there are critical driver, software or registry problems which have rendered the system unbootable. (Blue screens, hanging, errors etc..)
* May repair/reinstall missing Windows components or solve otherwise quirky behavior
* May allow drive to be installed on another system or motherboard with different chipset
* May allow you to install new motherboards or make other large hardware changes that XP may not readily accept with PnP.


Note: The system repair function will remove any updates you have previously installed that are not included on the CD. Drivers will also be reverted to their original XP versions, as well as some settings (Including by not limited to network & performance settings). It may be necessary to reactivate your Windows XP as well.

Step 1: Determine the problem

* First, figure out what CAUSED the problem. Often times, when Windows is rendered unbootable, there is a good reason. This can often be due to hardware failure (bad hard disk, memory or CPU for example). In these cases, the system repair function will not work. System repair will only repair your software.

I strongly recommend you run a disk utility on your hard drive before performing a system repair. You can find more information about disk utilities here:
TechSpot - News and Views for PC Technology Enthusiasts

Memory can also cause these problems. A good memory test can be found here: Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool


Step 2: Begin the repair process

* You must boot from your XP or 2000 CD. Please make sure it is the same version of Windows that is currently installed on your computer (ex. XP Home cannot repair XP Professional). Place the CD in your CDROM and start your computer. Newer versions will work as well (ie. Windows XP Pro SP2 CD will work on an older WinXP Pro SP1 installation)

Before the Windows logo appears, you will be asked to press any key to boot from CD, so do just that.

If you are unable to boot from the XP/2000 CD, then please check the last step in this short guide.


Step 3: System repair steps

* A blue screen will appear and will begin loading XP setup from the CD.

RAID/SCSI/Unsupported UDMA users:
You will be prompted to "press F6 to install any third party SCSI or RAID drivers". Most users will not have to press F6, but if you are running RAID, SCSI or unsupported ATA controllers, then you need your controller drivers on a floppy disk. If you are unsure whether you have RAID/SCSI, then simply let the CD load without pressing F6.

Once completed, you will be confronted with "Windows Setup". You will be asked to setup up Windows, or repair Windows with the recovery console. Choose the FIRST option, NOT recovery console.







Choose F8 to continue.


* Next, Windows Setup will find existing Windows XP/2000 installations. You will be asked to repair an existing XP installation or install a fresh copy of Windows XP/2000.

If no installations are found, then you will not be given the option to repair. This may happen if the data or partition on your drive is too corrupted.






* That should be it. Windows XP/2000 will appear to be installing itself for the first time, but it will retain all of your data and settings. Just follow the prompts, have your CD-KEY handy and hope for the best!


CDROM NOT BOOTABLE: If the XP/2000 CD does not boot...

* Many computers out there are not configured to boot from the CDROM. If you cannot boot from the CDROM, this is probably due to the boot order of your computer being incorrect for CDROM booting.

You have two options:

1.) You can change this in the BIOS during POST, which is usually the very first screen displayed by your computer when you turn it on.

2.) Many newer computers have a selectable boot menu by tapping F8, F10 OR F12 right during/after the first POST screen. This will allow you to temporarily boot from a CDROM.


To enter your BIOS, most users here will press the DEL key.

Most users with Dell, Gateway, Sony & HP systems will press F2.

Many Toshiba laptops are F2 or require you hold the ESC key when you turn the system on. Your notebook will report an error and prompt to press F1 to enter setup. Do exactly that.

Compaq users will usually have to press F10.

IBM typically uses F1 or F2.

Other brands may have different keys to press to enter setup, but F1, F2, Del, Tab and CTRL+S or CTRL + ALT + S are the most common ones I'm familiar with. Often, the BIOS will display what button to press to "enter setup" during POST.


When you enter the BIOS setup, you need to change the boot order. The CDROM should be setup before the Hard Drive. Each BIOS is different, but here is an example:



How to repair Windows XP/2000 if you are unable to boot into Windows - TechSpot OpenBoards By Rick
Just follow those steps and it should restore any corrupt files.

Hi there the Tech Guys have all the info you need: http://support.thetechguys.com/layout.aspx?ID={4afc60d7-121b-4b4b-991d-1c0606d1fb6c}&CatID={7453d2c5-8edb-42a8-ab6b-d8877a96e9b2}

I don't think I can do that now since I used the KILLDISK utility to wipe it

There is a lot on there, so will read through it in a sec

ah, now that one I have done... in fact I was doing it for 9 hours and it showed 20 tests as being OK.. then friend told me that I should have stopped it after 3



I'll try that tomorrow when I get the XPhome disc off my frind again... Thank You and i will let you know of the outcome too.. Thank You so much for your speedy reply you are an angel xxx

Thanks MadGamer, I did try pressing F10 but the pc just shut down so I gave up.. at one point (now i can't remember what I'd pressd to get there), I did see a list of partitions and when i selected an option (this was a couple of days ago now, so sorry about my vagueness here), it shut down and I can't remember how I got to that stage.. Then my friend said to use that killdisc utility and as far as I know that has completely wiped the whole thing anyhow? or am I wrong thinking that?

If you still have Warranty on the machine, give them (The Tech Guys) a ring on 0870 901 3000 (24hr support line)