The only mmsg. I get is to reinstall a windows file, but how can I do that...

[mbarry]

from a dos prompt and where do I get that file?  My HP pavillion laptop crashed during a "restore to factory condition" attempt and now windows xp home edition won't load. Of course, I didn't burn the recovery disks when I got the computer, so I tried (my own repairs)another xp home cd that I had, but when I try to either repair or install, it says that there is no hard drive. I used a compaq recovery cd to get to the dos prompt and dos said that there is a hard drive and it is also there in setup. Anyway, just turning on the laptop, I can go to setup or I get the mssg. that "windows32/ hal.dll" (something like that) file is missing or corrupt and it needs to be reinstalled. Where do I get that file and how do you install it when windows can't load. Is there any way I can get to the d:recovery drive and restore from there?

[Allan]

You probably need the sata driver for the hd

[patio]

Very early on in the Repair and/or install process of XP at the bottom of the blue screen will be a massage stating "press F6 to install additional drivers"...
At this point hit F6...then insert your HP Driver CD and hit Enter...it will locate the SATA drivers and re-install them and continue...
At some point it will ask you to put the XP CD back in.

PS if the other CD is a MS XP CD stick with that one...some OEM CD's i.e. HP Compaq will NOT do a proper Repair Install...

[mbarry]

I can't get to the repair because it goes directly to telling me that there is no hard drive.

[Allan]

You need to change the bios so the cd drive is at the top of the boot order, then reboot to the cd.

[patio]

Not making sense...you stated the dos mode says it's recognised.
Follow This Guide   suggest reading thru it and printing out a reference copy before proceeding...

Since you used both an HP and Compaq CD you may be past the point of no return.

[mbarry]

okay, I already changes the boot order and that's when I end up with the hard drive being gone and it won't continue. If I don't use the cd, I can access set up and can see the hard drive. Then I get the missing file mssg. I got to the dos prompt using the compaq recovery cd, where I can also see the c:windows drive and the d:recovery partition. After looking at the suggested article, I think maybe getting back to the orininal os isn't an option, so my question now is if I can get the dos prompt again, can I just format the hard drive and install a new xp os? I'm not looking to recover any old files, I just want my computer to work again.
Thank you.

[patio]

Your making this more complicated than it is...
Boot to the XP CD...remove the existing partition and follow the prompts to re-install XP...

[mbarry]

I can't boot to the xp disk. I get to the install or repair screen  and either choice takes me to the screen that says that it doesn't detect the hard disk and to make sure it's plugged in, etc. Other than that, booting from the hard drive takes me to the missing or corrupt file screen. I tried the boot logging thing, but it doesn't even appear to load so much as a couple of files (if that) and I'm stuck on the missing file (please replace) screen. I have usually been able to fix my computers sooner or later, but I just can't figure out what to do with this. Thanks for your help.