Hi, first let me say that I am particularly new to all things hardware.
I have just upgraded my motherboard, and processor... My processor has been upgraded from a 32 bit AMD XP 2000 (1.667 GHz?) to a 64 bit AMD 3600+ -- Please forgive any inaccuracy in the exact name/model of the processors -- I am not currently at my home, so I can't look it up at this moment.

Now, after upgrading, I had to downgrade my graphics card to some old nVIDIA VANTA... it gave me problems in the past. (Had to downgrade because I HAD an AGP, but my new board does not have support for AGP)
I think this is the model of my motherboard -- GA-M57SLI-S4 -- It's one in gigabyte's S-Series... I think

Now, when I install XP Pro (SP2), everything goes fine until the reboot... Formatting the disk is "error-free", copying the files is "error-free" and everything else SEEMS to be "error-free". After rebooting, it goes to the boot screen, I let it boot the default, and it gives me the error message "Windows could not start because the following file is missing of corrupt: <windows root>\system32\hal.dll Please reinstall a copy of the above file"

So... the obvious answer would be to "reinstall a copy of the above file", but here's the thing... I have installed two different copies of the same OS, and it fails each time... Also, the disc I am using, has worked previously. I have downloaded hal.dll, and I will try to copy it into the correct directory using the recovery console.

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Another error I have had gives me the message "Windows could not start because of a disk configuration problem Could not read from the selected disk"
This seems to occur when I install to a partition other than the first partition on the disk.
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So, my main questions are:
1) whether or not a 32 bit OS will work on a 64 bit system
I assume so as Linux (open SuSE Enterprise Desktop 10 installs flawlessly), but that's linux...
2) Could my graphics card have some problem with it
3) I have a driver disk for the new motherboard, but I can't get windows to set up so that these drivers can be used... perhaps this is the problem? If so, how (if possible) can I install a driver prior, or during the first stage of windows' installation?

Problem solved... How? Dunno, but I'm not complaining.