Re-Installed Windows XP

Hi,

I recently had problems with Internet Explorer displaying Java scripts and tried to reinstall it. I ended up reinstalling Windows XP and now appear to have 2 copies of XP installed.

When I switch on my machine, I am asked to select which operating system to start and given the 2 Windows XP systems as options.

If I select the first option, Windows starts up, but I can not access any of the old private folders files. (eg c:\documents and settings\etc)

If I select the second option, I get the following error message:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

I would really like to be able to access my old windows XP with all of the software and settings installed, but importantly access the private folders. Do you have any suggestions.

Thanks in anticipation
Adrian Groves

 

Thanks for the help. My boot.ini is now correct, but I still can not access the private folders. Do you have any recomendations on that please?

one example of a folder that I can not access is c:\documents and setting\dad Dad being my user name on the windows logon. I thought if I just set up a new user called dad, then I would be ok, but it did not work; Windows just set up the folders under the name c:\documents and settings\dad.lounge (lounge is the name of pc on the home network settings

Thanks again in anticipation