<< if i want to switch from standard PC to standard PC hal in win2k, is it best to just to switch it directly in win2k..or is it best to just re-install win2k?
thanks >>
Uh... they're the same thing.
There are (I think) seven HALs that ship with W2K
Standard PC (this has no ACPI support)
ACPI HAL (this has ACPI support)
MPS Uniprocessor PC (Standard PC Hal for multiproc motherboards with 1 proc installed)
MPS Multiprocessor PC (Standard PC HAL for multiproc motherboards with >1 proc installed)
MPS Uniprocessor ACPI HAL
MPS Multiprocessor ACPI HAL
You can go from uni to multi or back without problems.
To go from ACPI to non-ACPI or back, you should reinstall W2K on top of itself to guarantee success, despite others who say they've done this with no problems from Device Manager.
Installing W2K on top of itself will preserve all of your software, settings, etc.