Hello WTT,
I have encountered a new problem today, I reformated my computer and started downloading the lastest drivers and stuff, I downloaded java, and flash, then I downloaded service pack 3 ( I'm running on SP2 by default ) and started to install it, it then asked me to reboot and I did then here's when the problem began I got the error System Missing Hal.dll please reinstall it or something along those lines, I tried looking for ways to fix it and I did, the solution was to use the Windows XP disc, I put that in now after my CD says Setup Windows starting I got the blue screen of death error code STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF78D2524,0xC0000034,0x00000000,0x00000000), so I then reformated again being that I couldn't fix the problem through the disc, I'm back to where I started and now I wanna install the SP3 but I dont know what I did wrong, could you guys help ?
Thanks ~ Drew
first thing i'd do is install the os again, this time don't download anything other than sp3 and any updates, install mse anti-virus software once that's done, go get everything else you need like java, flash any system drivers, etc.
then i'd find out what hard drive you have and go visit it's site and down load it's hard drive checking utility, burn it to cd and run it on boot to check your hard drive to see if it's failing and has any bad sectors, etc.
might be you need a new hard drive.
Well terry after that happened I encountered yet another problem ! when I went to install my latest video card driver I rebooted and now I'm stuck in 8 bit color and if I try to change it everything gets distorted it keeps reseting after I tried to system restore
just uninstall your graphics card in device manager then reboot, let windows find and install it again, sounds like you may have installed an incorrect driver or it failed to install correctly(leads me back to my original conclusion, you have a bad/failing hard drive)
Boot to the Windows Advanced Options menu: A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP
Select Enable VGA Mode: (could also select Last known configuration that worked).
If that works and allows you to boot okay then go into Device Manager and rollback the driver for your video card, see if that gets rid of the last problem. If so you can try again with a different video driver.
The best thing to do is what Terry suggested, do another Clean Install but this time immediately install SP1 if your install CD has no service pack then install SP3, otherwise install SP3.
Next install Microsoft Security Essentials.
The only device driver you have to install is for your Network adapter if you have no internet connection. Don't do any other until the service packs and updates are done.
Ztrucker my make and model was in the thread " No sound Window's XP " and I'm gonna try another fresh reformat ill update you guys as soon as I'm done
Edit: Alrighty terry I reformated again and tried installing sp3 fresh and I got the error still the system error hal.dll is missing people reinstall a copy of the file
Ztrucker my make and model was in the thread " No sound Window's XP "
It would save a bit of time if you provided the information requested by Ztruker in this topic here.
Ztruker is one busy guy and for him to start searching the many thousands of posts on our forums here to find a previous topic of yours in order to obtain the details of your machine takes just a little time…… time that he could be spent helping you…or others…
Regards
paws
Yea after I reformated my video went back to normal, I'm gonna try the steps in that thread now
Alrighty I followed the steps put the windows cd in and got the error Stop**** 0x0000007b ( 0xf78d2524, 0xC0000034,0x00000000, 0x00000000
Right click on drive: and select Properties (drive: is your boot drive, usually C:)
Click on the Tools tab then the Check now button.
Check the Automatically fix File System errors box.
Alternatively, you can click on Start then Run, type chkdsk c: /r and press Enter.
For your boot drive (usually C:), you will get a window that says the check could not be performed ….
Do you want to schedule this disk check to run the next time you restart the computer?
Click on Yes or enter y if from Run box.
Shutdown and reboot. Chkdsk will start. It can take an hour or more to run depending on the size of your hard drive.
Use msconfig to disable all startup programs and non Microsoft services as follows:
Click on Start then Run, type msconfig and press Enter
Click on the Startup tab. Record everything that is starting, then click the Disable All button then Apply.
Click on the Services tab.
Click on Hide all Microsoft Services.
Record everything that is starting, then click the Disable All button then Apply then OK.
Reboot. When you get the message about using the Configuration Editor, check the box at lower left that says to not show the message again.
Now try installing SP3 from the .exe file you downloaded above. See if that works.
Ztrucker I talked to my uncle about my problem he also said it may be a bad internal hard drive, I've never had this problem before installing sp3 and I shouldn't now if everything is working fine, is they're anyway to see if theyres something wrong with my hard drive ? He said I could install windows on an external and he said to ask you guys how I could do so and try installing stuff on there , but if theyres a way to see if a hard drive is bad that would be great to
To check the hard drive, use the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
Bootable Hard Drive Diagnostics
As for installing on an external hard drive, no, that doesn't work. Microsoft does not like the concept of a portable operating system so does it's best to make sure you can't do that.You should be able to replace the internal one with another though.
First run the diagnostic and see what it tells you.
~ Drew
when I went to install my latest video card driver I rebooted and now I'm stuck in 8 bit color and if I try to change it everything gets distorted 
it keeps reseting after I tried to system restore
