windows xp wont install - hal.dll / seagate / NTLDR

[niz]

i'm having trouble installing windows xp for the first time, but not sure if
its the seagate hard drive and its "diskwizard starter edition" setup
software, or the winXP pro install itself, or something else, causing the
problem.

with a new 160GB seagate HD as primary master, i boot from a DWSE boot CD,
which formats & partitions the drive - its more than 137GB so it installs
DDO and says it will be setup as 137GB but once windows is installed the
additional space can be recovered.

it also says:

do not install an OS CD-ROM or floppy at this time... when the system
reboots and the blue Ontrack banner appears press 'C' to install from CD-ROM

so i remove the DWSE CD, press Done then Exit and get this error:

Cannot load the file A:\COMMAND.COM
Insert correct disk and strike any key

what disk? its obviously expecting something but i dont know what. so i do
ctrL-ALT-DEL, press C to boot from cd-rom at the blue ontrack banner,
"insert bootable CD and press spacebar when ready" (as instructed). it
ignores me and still tries to boot from hard disk!

NTLDR is missing
Press CTRL-ALT_DEL to restart

why is it trying to boot from hard disk? why the error message? ignoring
this, i restart. this time some new text appears first (before the blue
banner)

boot from ATAPI CD-ROM
no emulation
press any key to boot from cD

so i use this and finally get into the WinXP pro install. all proceeds as
normal, till eventually it reboots itself, then a black screen, then:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
windows root\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

so i followed the instructions in thisd MSKB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...kb;EN-US;314477

(option 2 bootcfg repair, option 3 expand, option 4 chkdsk in recovery
console)

but still the same issue.

has anybody got an experience of installing windows xp pro from cd when
using a seagate hard disk and its strange seagate disk wizard utility? any
help appreciated!

 

[Tom G]

Which version xp are you using? Upgrade or Full install? I'm hardly the
expert on xp issues but I can tell you what worked for me when I built my
newest computer.

I bought an OEM version of xp Pro and a new 120gb Western Digital hard drive
which came with a setup disk. I never used the WD setup disk.

XP prefers to format the disk during install. I could be wrong but if I
remember correctly, a blank, unformatted HD is a requirement to install full
version of xp.

In mobo bios, set cd drive to be first in boot order, then restart with xp
disk in cd drive. XP will take care of disk setup from there. My install
went flawlessly and xp performs fine.

As I said, I'm no expert. I just know what worked for me.

Don't forget to reset boot order back to C,A or whatever you prefer

Good luck.

 

[niz]

thanks.

i'm using an oem version of xp pro sp1. so full install.

how can i restore my seagate 160gb drive back to blank, unformatted state
now? it contains both the bad windows install and the seagate software.

will the seagate software have already changed my bios? how can i restore
that? (i'm thinking of the blue "Ontrack" banner that now appears during
startup).

 

[Tom G]

Niz, if it were me I would try to boot from xp cd and see if xp would
overwrite whats already on the drive. Somewhere I'd read you needed a fresh
unformatted drive to install xp. Maybe it'll ask if its ok to reformat your
already formatted drive and you'll be good to go.

If xp refuses to install on the already formatted drive, then the only thing
I can think to do would be grab a w98 boot disk and run fdisk. Delete any
existing partitions on C drive. Exit, then boot from xp cd again and run
install.

Seagate software shouldn't be able to make any bios changes. Get to bios
setup on most systems by tapping Del key continuously immediatly after power
on until setup screen appears. Go to boot section and set boot order to cd
drive number 1. Don't forget to "Save Changes" before exiting bios setup.

Remember, you won't be able to boot from floppy if its not in the boot
order. You may have to go into bios again to add it back in.

If none of that works, then like you, I'd be turning to newsgroups for help
like I have so many times before. Newsgroups and mvp's rock. 3 highly
successful home builds with the help of these good folks.

Good luck