Trouble installing Windows on a new HD.

I hope you have not done this Above.
Laptops do not load an O/S like desktops.Compaq's have a small 16bit partition at the begining of the HDD it contains the Setup software for the System( Acts like a Bios program).
You have to go to Compaq and Download this software along with all of the relevant Drivers etc.
While you are there Read up on the procedures for installing a new HDD . You may need an original installation disk to properly install.

Sorry to be the pedant here, but laptops can and do use regular os installs. I should know having done more than my fair share. What you're referring to is Compaq's fondness for a restore partition, which this system may indeed have if it's a compaq. If you want a clean install, you can do so, but if you want the machine to have all the software it orrigionally had on it (when you bought it that is), then you could try simply letting it boot without any removable disks in.
The problem I see with this idea is that Katylou has got a new HDD in the thing, so it's unlikely to have a restore partion on it.
FYI most of the compaq systems I've seen second hand (we get a lot of cast offs from industry 'donated' at the school) have a restore partition and they've all been desktops. Wheras the compaq laptops we've got 40 of don't.

Also Katylou, if you're not experienced at this sort of thing, please do not attempt to remove the HDD yourself for any reason as with a laptop there's a good chance of damaging the thing.

Also I feel that I must appologise if I upset you with my earlier suggestion, that you were trying to appeal to our base natures. You must admit however that the title for this thread is pretty demure. Still I was just being playful, it's hard to tell people's motivations with text, I suppose I should use more emotes or something.

Oh and if the XP disk is damaged then you won't do yourself any favors by copying it. You're right about that. The best thing to do would be to ask for a replacement from Microsoft (if it's a legit disk), or borrow one from a friend. It's quite legal, so long as you use your own licence key. It's the licence that's the real issue with piracy. That and the number of machines you've got it installed on.
If you don't have a legit copy of XP and it's a cracked(in the software sense) ****** version, you shouldn't have much trouble tracking down a replacement online. Not of course that I'd reccomend doing so as you won't be able to get critical updates from Microsoft.

Dear Lekki sheep and all of the TS crew!
I was not at all worried about your comment of me trying to appeal (it gave me a good giggle)- you have all been such a great help - I really cannot believe the community spirit shared here and how you all are tying to help me!

I am afraid though that I am still stumped - got a fresh xp disk from a friend! (trying not to scratch it!) and tried to load that but still had a few files that wont load.... this is also the case with the set of 3 HP restore disks that came with the computer. The files that won’t load are mainly .dll and .sys files and I have no idea what they do but are obviously very important as they cause a "critical error- libraries cannot be loaded" and the system wont go any further.

HP have been more than helpful (hahahahaha) in suggesting that I navigate their circular referenced website and try to get myself a copy of a few patch files - great thing about that is that they are all only executable through XP!!

The darn thing is driving me crazy!

I know it can run XP as it did before and is stickered with the claim it was designed for XP!

Does anyone out there know a way into the Compaq BIOS - the only bios I can access is the f10 and then the only options I have are boot order and minimal information on system…. I was thinking I could disable any virus checkers or other such nonsense before I give loading up the XP one more try!

Very weird... I'll take a swing at it though.
The only thing that has popped into my head is to try a different filesystem. I suppose the drive format is NTFS. Try formatting to FAT32 at the beginning of the XP install.

Ah, compaq support. I wouldn't try ringing them either. They bounce you from Eire to India and all over the merry globe until they find something for you to go away and do so they can fob you off. Static test is a favorite of theirs.

WinDoWsMoNoPoLy is on the right track I think with the file system there. It could be that it's just refusing to take the filecopy rather than unable to read from the disk. I'll talk to my coleague Jon this afternoon about some possible solutions aswell.

Your grattitude is much appreciated, by the way. I am enjoying helping you though, belive me it's no bother.

file system has nothing to do with "not being able to copy files from cd".
anyway, try this one katie, it works most of the time:

get a 98 floppy boot disk from www.bootdisk.com
start your pc with boot disk in the machine
after win98 comes up, enter fdisk
display partition(s) (if any)
delete partition(s)
create new partition
restart
format the hard disk
turn pc off
take win98 boot disk out
put xp cd in the cd rom drive
turn pc on
get into bios
go to boot sequence and choose "boot from cd first"
save bios, exit.
let xp install.
another issue is the cd-rom drive.
get a desktop type cd-rom drive and connect the cd-rom drive to the machine.
i strongly believe your problem is with the cd-rom drive. this is a known issue that microsoft has acknowledged.
the low-profile cd/dvd-drives of the laptops have problem reading xp cd's.

That is like the past 30 posts put into one. Try both, either may work.
And formatting with a different program has nothing to do with "not being able to copy files from cd".

look dude,
she mentioned that she may have a bug or something. all i'm trying to do is get her machine completely clean. to fdisk and format, so it will clean any traces of any "bugs". :rolleyes:

Bear in mind that after the format (during XP install) it just tells you it's copying installation files to disk. It isn't neccessarily as simple as a problem with reading the file to be copied, it could be the writing part of the process. Theres more than one step here.
1.read file to memory.
2.write file to disk.
3.also probably verify as KateyLou has told us that it tells her the files have failed to copy.
There could be a problem with the HDD, or even some other component causing the fault. To be honest, I don't know what to think of this and neither does my boss. I'll keep thinking though and in the meantime you could try using chkdsk from the repair option on the XP install.
To do this:
1.Do a startup as if you were going to install XP.
2.When it reaches the page where it asks you if you want to continue and install a fresh copy of XP choose the repair option.
3.This will drop you into a dos prompt.
4.Type chkdsk and press enter.

This might not help and forgive me if you've already tried this, but it's just a thought. If it's been replaced recently it's not inconcievable that the guy who did the install damaged your HDD.
If you get nothing from chkdsk, you might try downloading some third-party(non-microsoft) diagnostic software that techspot will doubtlessly have in their downloads section.

Soldier on. If we haven't solved it I'm sure someone who can will step in at some point with the solution.

chkdsk should be done with either /f or /r

/f fixes errors on the disk
/r locates bad sectors and recovers readable information (implies /f).

this could be a possibility.
you may try also, instead of using windows, use dos to install xp.
the command to invoke install is winnt32.exe. this file is on the xp cd. you can navigate to the xp cd in dos and enter winnt32.
just curious:
when you get an error message in copying files, what's the error message number? if any?

more info on hal.dll (hardware abstraction layer).
The missing or cannot find hal.dll, \windows\system32\hal.dll, or \winnt\system32\hal.dll error message may be experienced on a Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP system when the boot.ini becomes corrupted or when a user is attempting to dual boot a computer.

this is why you should reformat your hdd first and then attempt to install it.

When I first answered your post I was under the impression that you were trying to load XP from a Microsoft disk .
Now that I see you are able to use the Original ? setup disks for Presario your problem is really based around incompatibility.
The Setup files from Presario are not just a "reinstall partition" there are a number of Proprietary drivers , troubleshooting programs ,etc amongst other items. Dell HP and IBM will not Support any O/S upgrade not purchased from them.
Did you confirm that the HDD you installed is recommended-compatible from Compac.
If it is not it may still work but you will need to update the BIos/Setup utility from Compac to the latest version before attempting to load the O/S.
According to the Website you should be able to upgrade these files from the Setup disks.
Another way to install The O/S, is if you can partition the HDD with at least 2 partitions you can copy the "i386" file to the partition not being used for your O/S and install using the 'winnt.exe " command from a Boot disk , command prompt, directed to the files on the HDD .
The bottom line for Manufacturers is $ and they make it in part by making it difficult for end users to upgrade themselves. They will not give you much assistance because you did not upgrade thru them.
Worst case scenario for you would be to purchase a HDD direct from presario, if you cannot get the updates loaded on your disk.They have to cover their product then.

liquidlen: Dell HP and IBM will not Support any O/S upgrade not purchased from them.
I have to disagree with you on that one.

i have upgraded may compaq and hp machines from factory os install to off the shelf retail or oem packages.

you're correct, the disk that come with these machines, are not necessarily full xp os bootable version. at most they're recovery stuff. however, katie, as is said, has wiped everything clean off the disk. it's a new disk.
so, an xp cd should load. i've said from the beginning, this is related to slimline cd-rom drives have problem with reading xp cd's. this is a know issue and microsoft knows about. and their solution is to use a full size cd-rom drive.

Ali...
Either you are wrong or Dell /Hp have changed their policy in the last 6 months.I own 2 of each laptops purchased intermittently over the last 18 months. I got them direct for a good price.But I need XP pro, and in each case both companies stated that they will not Support/warranty a retail upgrade unless I purchased from them.You can confirm this for yourself or if I have a copy of their emails I will forward them to you.
I NEVER said that Retail/OEM Will not work.
However without their proprietary setup programs you will have some driver problems .
The setup disks usually partition and load their small programs first and then load Windows .In fact the re-installation instructions for Kate's model describe this and they also go on to refer to some update file issues that can occur when re-installing XP . Her model was not designed for XP ,but it is compatible according to Compac, so she will need the Setup program updated.If you check at their site you will also see that they will sell her a new HDD with setup program already installed.Why do you think that is?
Katey said she got to the reboot portion of the install that means her NEW HDD should be partitioned, but some driver/program etc is not allowing Windows to complete the install or the HDD is truely faulted.
I only care that she is able to try ALL availible options she has in front of her before she has to spend more money to fix her problem.

i'm sorry, len. i thought you were saying that the machine will not "support" other xp installs. all mis-understanding. you're right. the company and the help desk will not support oem or retail upgrade problem unless you purchased from them. in each case that i installed xp, i had download all the drivers from hp and compaq and dell's site and install them. those are not the problem now. the drive totally empty. and no drivers should interfere. she just can not copy the files. she gets copying errors. which is think is related to the cd-rom drive not being able to read, verify and copy the file to write to hdd. in any case, she doesn't need to "boot". winnt.exe or winnt32.exe wil do the same thing. i'm thinking if she boots with a win98 boot floppy and then fdisk, format, and install from xp cd. but i doubted. i think cd-rom is the problem and this is a known issue.

Kat.. Quotes..
Then we hit payload- I get through the install and get to a windows screen! I see the hills! I must be close! Now it says needs to reboot and then I think I am all fine! Then the pain starts anew! The reboot brings me to a black screen with the message “Windows Root>/system32/hal.dll. file is missing...please install copy of file...."

Ali....Forget it , everybody misreads a Post. As to Kate's problem I am not sure her CD is not writing to disk, look how far the install has progressed(re quote) It would be good for her to boot to the Start up disk(or a Win 98 boot disk) to see if it can read if there are files on the disk. If so she has more options.
Also if the HDD is OK her Compac start up CD has a couple of programs that can run from the CD , including the ability to update the setup program , which BTW has newer drivers to deal with that Rom problem if that is the issue.
Her machine has a Setup program update, dated mid 2002 I have a feeling it was designed/tested for Win 98/ ME(I'll bet her Setup disk is XP-no serpak). There are driver files at the Web for the former.
It would explain why her setup disks are having a problem with the Rom.
Anyway I hope she has some success and lets everyone know her progress.

sounds cool, len.
i think she should give the win-98 boot floppy a try:
and fdisk and format totally. hal.dll (hardware abstraction layer) usuall happens when you have a corrupted boot.ini file or you have dual boot partition. (which you mabe right). some things are still on the hdd from a previous install or something).

I think she might have given up on TS helping her, but this is more of a post to focus a few loose ends bc I think Liquid is on to something that has of yet not been discussed.

But re-read the Katey's 1st post: A lot of missing files, not able to copy file, in short a lot of data corruption. So my first guess was bad/damaged CD and then maybe a hardware issue. So people said it was bad CD or the CD drive.
But she has tried an external USB, and now even a new/different XP disk. She said this in her first post:

I guess I have 2 questions to ask:
My question to Liquid: Would this proprietary setup necessarily cause the symptoms of not being able to copy specific, yet random files?
My question to alidabiri: If Katey used an external USB CD Rom drive would this not have fixed the reading issue?