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Help...XP keeps screwing with hal.dll???

V

Vertigo-1

Senior member
Ok, so I just completed building my new rig at last. The hardware seems to be doing ok. The problem comes when installing XP Pro. After it copies over the files and reboots, upon rebooting it gives me an error saying "hal.dll is missing or has been corrupted". Another occasion, I was able to completely install XP and boot into it, but after shutting down the computer and restarting, it gives me the same error! I've tried installing using two different full version XP Pro discs, and it keeps doing this...what's going on here???

Here's the rig specs, if it matters:


Intel P4 3.2
1 gig of Kingston HyperX 3500
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128
Hauppauge WinTV tuner
Sblive Audigy 2 ZS
1 WD Raptor
1 Maxtor 200 gig
1 Maxtor 60 gig


I have a strong suspicion that XP's not liking the Raptor for some reason, or the Raptor doesn't like XP. I've installed from one of the XP Pro discs onto my previous computer just fine without any such headaches, and it was a plain old IDE 60 gig Maxtor 7200 drive.

Prior to installing XP however, I used the 98SE boot disk to format the Raptor for FAT32, since all my backup drives were FAT32. Just wanted to be on the safe side for compatibility. I noticed XP didn't give me that option at all when trying to partition/format during the install...the only choice for the Raptor was NTFS, until I did the format through the 98SE boot disk. Then while installing XP I was able to choose the Raptor with a FAT32 partition. Do SATA drives require NTFS to work right with XP or something?
 
You formatted an entire 200gig partition with FAT32? That is just nuts. FAT need to die, use NTFS. It is MUCH more reliable (I don't even want to calc your cluster size on that drive with F32). MS won't let you format FAT32 a drive (from within XP) bigger than 32gig. There is a reason for this, FAT just isn't designed for that size drive.

On your install problem, this sound alot like an issue I ran into (wag here). In my case it turned out to be a bad IDE cable.

Bill
 
I seem to recall having a similar problem once. Can't remember if it was a bad hdd or one that had screwed up formating -- but something to do with the hdd. Try formating the Raptor in NTFS and then installing Windows. It's OK to leave the older drives in FAT. XP will deal with the translation when you move data from FAT to NTFS or back.
 
Actually, it seems like it was an IDE cable problem...was using Antec Cobra round cables. Either the cable was screwed up internally or it was too long and the mobo (Gigabyte 8KNXP) didn't like it. Went back to plain old flat cables for all my IDE drives and floppy drives and the system seems to be purring along now. I think I'll stay away from round IDE cables.

Thanks a LOT for that tip bsobel...I would've NEVER even thought of checking the IDE cables on my own for this particular problem.

 
Thanks a LOT for that tip bsobel...I would've NEVER even thought of checking the IDE cables on my own for this particular problem.
Click to expand...

Trust me, when I ran into the situation it was out of pure desperation (had just about replaced everything else on the system). It turned out the case pinched one of the lines, in my case it was on a mirrored raid controller so only sometimes would the damage show up, but when it did, it wasn't pretty.

Glad it's fixed.
Bill


 
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