Troubleshooting Startup

[Guest]

I have a laptop that originally had Windows 2000 on it. I recently installed
windows xp home edition sp1 on it, and now I have a message of: "Windows
could not start becuase the following file is missing or corrupt: <windows
root>\system32\hal.dll. I have already made the xp startup disks (6 of
them), but the problem is, I do not have any internal cdrom or a floppy disk
drive. They are both external on a USB port. The problem is, the USB port
is not registering, and I cannot perform a boot disk load because the USB
port is not registering the cdrom or the floppy disk drive. How do I get to
a command prompt, or how can I get the USB port to work for either the cdrom
or the floppy disk? I am becoming desperate. Thanks.

 

[Brian A]

Check the BIOS to make sure the USB settings haven't been changed and are enabled.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

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