Can not install XP on my dream sys?

Airmanv

Airmanv

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 3, 2002
Messages
478
Finally got my dream system parts in..
PCPC 1Kilowatt PSU
eVGA 680i MOBO
Conroe 6700
8800 GTX x2
4 Gigs DDR2 Corsair

However I CANNOT install windows on any HDD. At first I thought it was a problem with my SATA raid but I have tried a IDE HDD. I have formatted all my drives, but it just keeps locking up at "setup is starting windows" right before you chose the install path. I have tried different RAM and vid cards with no luck. I have updated the eVGA mobo to the 11/22 bios, any ideas.
 
Are you absolutely sure it's "locked up" at that point? Usually at that point it'll sit there and seem like it's locked up but it's not; it's just a point in the setup process where the setup program is running a lot of internal checks and balances to make sure it's ready to proceed - the issue is it's not telling you what it's doing at that point so, depending on your hardware, etc. that delay can be anywhere from 5 seconds to 5 minutes on some machines.

The #1 way to know absolutely and for certain that yes your machine is hard locked is to press the Caps Lock key on your keyboard. If the Caps Lock key does not switch on, or off depending on what press of the key you've done, then yes your machine is hard locked. That's an old skewl trick that not a lot of people know these days; press Caps Lock over and over again and if the Caps Lock light doesn't go on or off with each press, yep, you're hard locked and ready for a cold boot.

Just on a personal question: on that "dream system" do you intend to run Vista or XP? And 32 bit or 64 bit Vista is I can ask? With that hardware, and 4GB of RAM, Vista 64 would scream, and with XP you're not going to get to use all that RAM adequately, unfortunately.

Nice hardware, I hope you plan to put it to some serious use. :D
 
Caps lock doesnt work. Will run vista in the near furure, doesnt work with 12,3, or 4 gb RAM
 
Ok, so now the troubleshooting begins.

The first thing you need to do is make a truly base system to start with as a foundation, meaning:

- the power supply
- the mobo
- video (onboard if possible; I don't know if that mobo has onboard video, but if it does, use it and leave the 8800 off, both of them; if not, then use only 1 of the 8800 cards at a time; if you have any other video cards that are workable, use them)
- the RAM, with just 1 stick of 1GB to start, and not all 4 sticks
- the hard drive
- the CD/DVD drive to install the OS

Absolutely no other hardware in use or attached. The point is to create the bare minimum "computer" with the least amount of components possible and then try to get the OS installed cleanly. If it doesn't work that way, then obviously you've got a hardware issue someplace, or the installation media (meaning the XP CD) could be corrupt or bad.

There are millions of reasons this could be happening; the trick is trying to narrow down all the possible reasons it is happening, meaning possible hardware glitches.

Give that a shot or two, see what happens. If you're successful, if you get XP installed fully, then you can add one component at a time back into the equation to make sure everything works one piece at a time till you're up to the full compliment of hardware.

Hope this helps...
 
Are you trying to install from a CD-ROM? If so try your DVD drive.

**EDIT**
I see so many problems installing Vista that I didn't notice it was XP :p
 
does yout XP CD have SP2 on it. If not there's your problem.

you probably tried hitting F6 and tried feeding it some chipset drivers and all that?
XP setup random crash/freeze/blue screen with different errors each time?

I went through the same mess a few weeks back with a Intel mobo and Intel 6*** chip. Would not boot the guys XP-Home CD. Swapped HDs'/IDE/SATA, swapped out ram. Then as a last resort, I brought over XP64 w/SP2 it loaded up no problems.

Good Luck
 
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