HAL spontaneously changed after update...

[richardbirks]

Every now and again something happens that reminds me just how much a pain in the backside Windows can be.

Did a repair install of XP on my "other" rig, primarily to get some data off it and decided to slap a fresh copy of XP on it. Did a Windows Update (79 critical updates - who says we don't need XP SP3) and was just shutting it down and what the hell, get a splash screen that says: It is now safe to turn off your computer!

Quick boot-up and lo and behold, my HAL seems to have changed to "Standard PC"!

Anyone know if there are any dirty fixes for changing the HAL, without a reboot. I suspect I'm SOL because I seem to remember the entire device tree is different for a ACPI compliant HAL, but you never know.

Any help greatly appreciated. Even if it's just to confirm what I'm already thinking: rebuild...

Cheers,

Richard.

P.S. While not the most modern of motherboards, it's an NF7-S v2.0, it's definitely ACPI compliant.

 

[marc2003]

not possible according to this.....

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283

Device Manager does not permit the change from a Non-ACPI HAL to an ACPI HAL. You must use a new install of Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 for this kind of change. Change from an ACPI HAL to a Non-ACPI HAL only for troubleshooting purposes.

if you decide to re-install, you can choose the hal during setup by pressing f5 when prompted to "press f6 for 3rd party drive setup". or something like that....

 

[richardbirks]

not possible according to this.....

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283



if you decide to re-install, you can choose the hal during setup by pressing f5 when prompted to "press f6 for 3rd party drive setup". or something like that....

Yeah. Funny you should say that.

I'm thinking I must have pressed F5 at the same time as F6 when I was installing the SATA drivers, so the installer proceeded to quietly use the standard HAL without mentioning it!

Argh. I might have a look and see if there's a scripted way of rolling all 79 hotfixes into an SP2 disk.

Never mind Vista, where's my flippin' XP SP3 !!!

--
Richard