Hal.dll, WinXP Pro, & Double XP Boots

[Fakebill]

Have a Win XP system, AMD, ASUS, etc. Downloaded SP2 upgrade (got the interrupt during download), and it seemed to run OK. Shortly, without any hardware changes, got the dreaded HAL.dll missing or corrupter message. Have read all the posts here regarding the subject.

Also, at the same time, found that I could boot the system if I leave the Win XP disk in the CD but at that time it shows 2 "Windows XP Professional" choices and asks which one to use. It does not allow you to choose but attempts to load from someplace without success.

Did the boot.ini problem steps and the boot.ini shows just one Win XP load on the correct hd, partition, etc. From repair console did the Fixmbr and bootcfg remedies without success.

As a last step, and as a way of trying to overwrite the MBR, etc. I reformatted the drive with Win98, fdisk, format, and, after letting that go, reformatted it with the Win XP boot in Fat32. Had also tried the same thing with NTFS. Still came up with the attempt to boot 2 versions of "Windows XP Professional" screen.

After ghosting back the original system I started with, it still booted from the boot disk with the same two system choices. No boot disk got the hal.dll flag thrown on the field.

Can anyone tell me where this dual boot is coming from? As I said, the boot.ini does not have it in there.

Thanks, Fakebill

[glc]

If you want a total wipe, just zero fill the hard drive. You can do this with free utilities from most hard drive manufacturers (WD DLG Diags, Maxtor Powermax, Seagate SeaTools, Hitachi/IBM Drive Fitness Test).

[Fakebill]

Thanks but I had wiped the drive with Access Data's wipedrive prior to the reformat, etc.

The dual boot up attempt showing two "windows XP Professional" appears to be sitting someplace in the Windows software, not the boot.ini. Trying to locate it so I can get rid of it.

Thanks.