Parents have given me their computer which I have been unable to get working. Problems encountered by trying to re-install Win XP home (SP1)following damage caused by a suspected power surge.
If I try and boot from CD or reinstall or even repair previous installation using manufacturers recovery disk I get a message saying IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL - if I allow to boot naturally I get a System32|hal.dll missing or corrupt message.
I am assuming (dangerous of me, I know :twisted: ) that there must be a hardware failure - ram graphics card etc but not sure what to do first. All I want is to start again with it but cant even get it to the stage where it'll do anything... any bright :idea: 's ?