mint installation computer PROS help URGENT

[ekfsksk]

i have a really old netbook (Sony PCG 1A1N) and i want to install linux mint. the problem is it has no cd rom, so i have to boot from a USB.

BUT another problem is that even though my netbook BIOS has a "Removable Devices" option, it does not boot from my USB. (YES i made my usb stick bootable and i set "removable devices" as my first boot option) SO... im guessing that my netbook does not support USB boot option. so i found a program called "PLOP Boot manager"(followed this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N51B0gi-g0U). And, everything worked fine except for that when i restarted my netbook and selected plop boot manger it says "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows Root> system32 hal.dll

i searched up how to fix hal.dll problems and most of the solution said insert a windows xp CD and fix it, but my netbook does not have a CD rom.
So my question is
1. How do i fix above error
2. if it is not possible to fix, then would you suggest me a good light linux distros that can run fast on crappy netbook? (and it has to have an option that can install from an installer like WUBI. No mint4win)

Thanks for reading long post and have a good day.

[pluraldave]

"Removable devices" usually refers to SD card slots. USB devices are usually listed as a hard drive.

With the Windows error, no idea. As for the distro, what are the specs of the netbook?

[ekfsksk]

"Removable devices" usually refers to SD card slots. USB devices are usually listed as a hard drive.

With the Windows error, no idea. As for the distro, what are the specs of the netbook?

the specs could be found on here http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1056
ram is 256MB

[pluraldave]

I'd probably try Crunchbang. If that doesn't work then you're probably looking at Puppy or Damn Small Linux.

Not sure about the processor though...

[spandey]

You can try Puppylinux and very fast distro on old computers.

[ekfsksk]

You can try Puppylinux and very fast distro on old computers.

can i install it w/o usb or cd like WUBI?
like is it possible to install it IN windows?

[spandey]

Yes..Just go to their site and Before installing go thru the documentation carefully. It's all there.