Rob K

PROBLEM SOLVED !!! Hi, I managed to get around this problem. The original installation had more than one partition on it, and when the installation routine ran, I think it was looking at the wrong partition, and producing this "missing hal.dll" message. So, when I got to the F3 screen this time, I deleted all of the partitions listed there, so there were none left. I then had to create a new (single) partition, just like you do when you build a new PC with a brand new, blank hard drive. This time, the installation progressed as normal and XP was installed up to the normal desktop login screen. I installed the LAN driver via USB memory stick. From there it was all routine Windows upgrades from the MS website using the LAN. This has fixed the problem. Many thanks for all of you that helped with info on this one. I could not have done it without you !!! Cheers, Rob