Problems Upgrading to Win XP Pro from XP Home

[Guest]

I am unable to upgrade my laptop from WinXP Home to WinXP Pro. Spent 1.5
hours with MS Tech Support which still did not resolve problem. All I want
to do is a simple upgrade. I load the desktop, put in the XP Pro CD, and
then I choose Upgrade. It take a very long time on Preparing the
Installation. On the first reboot I get an OS Boot Menu with the options
of WinXP Home Ed. or WinXP Professional Setup. When I choose XP Pro Setup, It
immediately goes to black screen with the error message,
"systemroot\system32\hal.dll file is missing or has been corrupted." When I
choose WinXP Home Ed., it continues the installation process. After it
finalizes the installation, it reboots, and I get an Internal Error Message
saying that WinXP couldn't recognize the configuration settings.

I found a resolution that mentions uninstalling SP2, uninstalling Hotfix KB
834707, and uninstalling AV S/W. However, my laptop came pre-installed with
SP2 so there is no option to uninstall it under Add/Remove.

How can I uninstall SP2 and the hotfix? Or better yet, how can I
successfully upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro?

I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

boot to the cd and install that way, rather than attempt within windows