HEEEELLLP!! I screwed up my laptop!!

[Mr. Retardo]

So here's the deal.... I have a gateway laptop with windows XP home on it. I needed XP Pro to run a program at work on so I got a disk from a friend that was supposed to have it on it. I started up my computer, put the disk in, I think I answered UPGRADE to a question (then thought I probably shouldn't have put that because I'm not upgrading my current installation) and then it started installing. I thought all was well.... then it came up with an error that said it couldn't locate a version of windows to upgrade or something to that effect. I shut it down and restarted, then I have the option of booting into Pro or Home..... hmmm... never had this before..... I tried to boot into home and it says my hal.dll file is missing or corrupted, please reinstall. So I go get my recovery disk for my gateway and try to boot up with it and it just keeps giving me the hal.dll bologna. If I boot into Pro it is only halfway through the install and gives me a message that says it can't locate the windows that I'm trying to upgrade. Either way I can't boot into windows and now I'm stuck. I've tried safe mode and I've pressed F8 and F10 and I can't find this recovery center I've read about. I can't get to a command prompt. All I really want to do is wipe the hard drive and install the XP pro but now i've got it stuck halfway between the two!!! SO FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!!! Please help mr. retardo.... Please.... for pennies a day you can end the suffering....

 

[Billy the Adult]

Read through these and see if any help.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm

 

[managed]

I would start again, you need to boot from the XP CD.

http://web.mit.edu/ist/products/winxp/advanced/reinstall-format.html

 

[Flags]

For $139.99 you can buy an OEM version of XP Professional from New Egg.

You already know how to install it. Do a clean install and format the drive.

You will have to use your driver disk from Gateway to install all the drivers, or go to their site and get them.

Using someone else's disk is illegal, unless he has uninstalled the OS from his machine.

 

[Mr. Retardo]

I found that page already and the problem is that I never get the screen that says press any button to boot from CD. I get the gateway screen, then the screen that asks which version of windows I'd like to use, then depending on which I choose, either the hal.dll message or the can't locate version of windows to update message. Man I need this computer for work!!! I don't know what to do....

 

[Mr. Retardo]

Is there a way to wipe everything and start over from the Bios screen? That's the only one I can get into to do anything.......

 

[Billy the Adult]

I was thinking you wanted to repair Windows instead of a new install.. if you want to wipe everything just put the XP cd in and delete all partitions, format and re-install.. The link managed posted is easy to follow.. Good Luck!

 

[Mr. Retardo]

I've got the XP cd in and it doesn't do what they say it will do when I restart it. It seems to be stuck halfway through an "upgrade" process. I think I shouldn't have pushed upgrade. I don't remember what the other options were. Every time I start into Pro, it says it can't locate the version of windows to upgrade. I'd love to do what they are doing in that how-to but I can't get to those screens.

 

[Billy the Adult]

Are you booting from the cd or just putting it in while the pc is running? did you set your BIOS to boot from cd first?

 

[managed]

You are not booting from the CD, see here :- http://www.hiren.info/pages/bios-boot-cdrom

 

[Mr. Retardo]

Ok, lets see if this helps: My built in disk drive died so I'm running an external Liteon DVD drive. I went to the BIOS menu and changed the priority several times. I have these options: HDD+, Removeable device, ATAPI CD ROM, and Broadcom MBA. I have tried putting all of them at the top of the list and saving but none of them change how it boots up. Am I doing something wrong, and which one is my drive?

 

[Mr. Retardo]

Any of you need help fixing a car? I'm a mechanic and I'd be more than happy to help any of you figure out problems with cars lol.....

 

[Mr. Retardo]

I'm pretty sure it should boot from the cd the way I have it but it doesn't. Could it be a problem with the disk? I put the disk in this computer and it seems to be a regular XP install cd. I tried booting it with all three options other than HDD and with removeable device and ATAPI CDROM it goes directly to xp home or pro screen, with the Broadcom one it obviously tries something different but it gives some error message about checking the cable.

 

[jasaiyajin]

Choose to boot from USB if it's a usb drive from the bios menu. Then, reinstall windows the old fashioned way, and make sure to format your drive and do a clean install.

Back up your data beforehand though, unless you didn't really need anything on your pc.

Now, as for car questions, I have bubbles in my cooling system. There's high pressure building as I start up and drive? Blown head gaskets?! I've got an e36 chassis with an m50 engine but no place to work on it. Probably should just find some $$$ to get a new car.

 

[Mr. Retardo]

USB doesn't seem to be an option on my PhoenixBios. Man I wish we could get this handled...


Yeah it sounds like you have combustion getting into your cooling system so it's probably head gaskets... Expensive...