Windows XP Startup Problems

[JillsBrain]

Hello Everyone.  First time poster.  Here it goes.

I have a Dell Latitude L400 laptop that I purchased used.  It had windows 2000 initially on it and I installed windows xp sp1 over the top.  Now I get the message:  "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt. <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.  Please re-install a copy of the above file."

Fine.  No problem.  I have the xp setup disks right here.  Wrong.  My used Dell laptop only has external floppy and cd rom drives that I purchased separately.  The two drives use 1 USB port.  But when I hook either the cdrom or the floppy disk up to the USB port, nothing is recongized and nothing even registers with a nice light blinking.  Hmmmm.  So here are my questions in no particular order:  Oh yeah, by the way...safe mode and all other modes (debugging, and last good configuration) when you press F8 is the same outcome.

1.  How do I get to a command prompt without using the cdrom or floppy disk drive?
2.  How do I access the USB port with out access to the hard drive at all?
3.  Can I do a network boot from my desktop PC, and how would I configure it since this laptop is not responding in any way?

I hope someone out there is able to help, and I really do appreicate it!  

[Raptor]

Have you tried a repair installation of Windows XP?

[JillsBrain]

I would try a repair installation if I could get to a command prompt.  I can't get to a command prompt because my cd rom is external and connects via a USB port.  The port is not working.  I also have a floppy disk external drive, and the same USB port (the only USB port I have) is not working.  I cannot put in the xp installation disk because the cdrom isn't registering.  I can't put in the floppy disks to run the xp repair installation because the external drive isn't working also.

All I want is to get a command prompt, but everything that is needed to get to a command prompt is futile.  Hopefully this made some sense.

[Raptor]

Does the Laptop not come with an internal CD/DVD drive?

Can you not boot from an USB device?

[fat_basterd21]

I had this same problem after adding a partition to my HD, not sure if that caused it... I remeber doing a windows repair and dont remember if that helped... I did however run a live cd and the file was infact there possibly corrupt but I had no backup to replace it...

...Have you ever booted from you "usb" drives before? maybe your bios doesnt support it... When you upgraded to xp did you boot to the disk or did you start it  it wile in windows...

[ale52]

Like fat_bastard21 suggests...unless your BIOS allows you to boot to a USB device you're stumped.

Do you have the original install disks that came with the laptop?  My question would be..."How did Windows 2000 Pro get installed in the first place?"  It's either on a hidden partition (which Dell usually DOESN'T do) or it had to be loaded via cdrom.

Have you contacted Dell support via their chat?  Might be worth checking out.

Alan <><