After no real help from Parallels Support (they just got back to me after I opened a ticket two months ago), I had to search look for a fix to the hal.dll error. Here are the steps that I used to fix it: 1. Launch Macintosh HD - Applications - Utilities - Boot Camp Assistant 2. Choose to "Start Windows Installation" 3. Insert and boot from your Windows XP CD. 4. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key 5. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair. 6. Type bootcfg /list to show the current entries in the BOOT.INI file 7. Type bootcfg /rebuild to repair it 8. Take out the CD ROM and type exit The challenge I found was that there was no bios where I can control where to boot from (cd vs. hd). I got lucky and it booted to the cd. But this took me several tries and I don't remember the steps on how I got it to work. It didn't take long to fix and I did not have to reinstall Parallels or WinXP. My hal.dll got corrupted when I installed an early version of 3.0. After I was able to repair the HAL.dll error, I installed version 3.0 build 4560 and I have no errors to date.
to choose the boot sequence, with the VM loaded but not running in parallels, under the edit menu, edit virtual machine. In the configuration editor window, select the options choice on left side (should be 1st one listed). On the left side of the editor, choose booting (Middle choice between general and advanced). below this you will see 3 buttons. to boot from a CD first, choose bottom button.
On an EFI Mac machine selecting the partition to boot from is simpler than a bios based machine. If you are in OS X select: System Preferences (in applications folder or on the dock) > System > Startup Disk >. Startup Disk window will appear and you will see your available boot selections there. (usually "Mac OS X 10.4.XX on Macintosh HD" and "Windows on <windows drive name>". Highlight drive selection you want to make active at next re-boot (Select Windows in this case). DO NOT press "Restart" button, simply close the Startup Disk window with the close button. Now the next time you reboot, the windows partition will be active. Before you reboot, place your windows startup CD in the computer. Re-boot, when you hear the boot chime press and hold the "option" key, a boot selection menu will appear. There should be at least three selections showing ( Mac, Windows and Windows CD ). Highlight the "Windows CD" selection and press enter. The windows install cd should boot. Follow dbarrit's steps 2-8 listed above. Re-boot. Windows should boot if all went well. If you like you can reset your boot partition in windows as well. Open control panel. In control panel you will see a "startup disk" icon there. it looks just like the one in OS X. It behaves the same way too. Open it, select "Mac OSX ..." and close it. The next reboot will boot Mac OS X. Remember, you can always select your boot partition at startup using the "option" key method, but it only makes for a temporary selection. To make permanent, you must change it in the startup disk window as described above.
