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In PC hell, XP install problems. Need some serious help please

Z

Zenzrevenge

n00b
Joined
Sep 11, 2006
Messages
56
Hello,

So I was having problems with getting my vid card to work and it was suggested I just reformat. I was hesitant to due this but after everything else failed I decided what the heck.

So I back up my files on an external drive and I change my bios to boot from cd rom. I put my disc in and restart.

Everything works like it is suppose to I delete my partitions and start the installation. Basically everything works fine and I get to the part where it needs to restart and it says when it restarts set up will continue. Well when it restarts set up does not continue set up starts over. I have tried everything i can think of, i've changed it so it will try to boot up on the harddrive, left it at the cd rom. NOTHING works if I have it start up with the hd it just gives me an error saying window failed to launch and if I have it start up with the cd rom it just starts over.

I am in dire straights at least before i had a computer that worked sure the vid card didn't but I could do everything else. Now I am DOA>

Any ideas?
 
When you changed it in the BIOS to boot to CD, did you make the HD secondary? If it only boots to CD, then it will be in a continuous loop.
 
Yep, the harddrive is set to boot second. Either way it will not boot from the hd. As I mentioned even if i put it first it then says windows did not load properly.
 
are you hitting a button after your computer reboots?

if you've set your bios to boot from cd, there's usually a prompt that asks you to hit a key to boot from cd, after xp reboots during installation, dont hit a key after the restart, that will just start things over. just wait a while and it will automatically boot the hd. i usually dont switch the bios during the installation. i just leave the hd to boot 2nd and change it after its done.
 
Also, make sure your external drive is unplugged for the installation process.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

I have tried not touching anything when booting from Cd after about 3 seconds it moves on and I get the same error as if I was booting from the HD.

External is unplugged.

A friend suggested creating a partition a little bit smaller then the HD thinking it could be a bad file or something stuck.

I am at a lost though I am going to try that tonight if that doesn't work I guess I will load my 2k pro until vista comes out....
 
FWIW, I've run into this situation also.

9 out of 10 times, this problem is a result of a bad CD-ROM drive, and the other 1 out of 10 was a bad winXP CD (and it was brand new).

Good luck!
 
Nothing has worked that I have tried. I had two internal hds. I have tried removing both of them and doing single installs, I even tried installing 2k pro. Same problem. If it boots from the HD it says error loading operating system, if it boots from cd it just starts the process over. I've tried installing around 20 times now....

I am at a lost for what to do and I just can't replace it because I just spent so much $ upgrading components.....
 
recap of everything in case people are confused":

Basically it does this.

1. I boot and load to disc.
2. Does some pre-loading of files and agreement.
3. I partition and formt
4. It does the set up
5. It says it will restart and when the computer comes back it will continue set up.
6. Reboot happens
7. If I boot it to HD I get Error in loading operating system
8. If i boot to cd it starts the process over at step 1.

Ps. This happens to me if I use XP or 2k Pro.
 
yeah, i think the cd-drive might be the problem if multiple hd's failed to install. i highly doubt both of your copies of winxp and 2k are corrupt...
 
I agree its worth trying another CD drive, I had a similarly weird issue trying to install XP that turned out to be the drive.

If your drives are plugged onto a controller that can also do RAID, make sure that RAID is turned off and other settings are set to work well with a single drive. Some RAID BIOS need you to press F2 after normal hard drive detection to get into the setup.

I dont know if you are using SATA or PATA drives.
If PATA, try messing with the drive select jumper, it may suddenly behave when on a particular setting. I've seen many drives act differently in other computers and require non standard configuration.

Try resetting your CMOS in case it is corrupt..
 
No Sata or Raid.

Been researching like crazy it appears it might be a bad boot file.

Recommendations to fix have been fdisk and low level formats using the cd from my hd.

Don't really have another cd rom drive here I guess I could pick up one up but it appears more likely it maybe the mbr.

Any of this make sense to anyone here?
 
yes.
If you can get a DOS disk, boot from it.
at the command prompt type
FDISK /MBR
You may need to be on the drive that you wish to fix, if so type
C:
A:\FDISK /MBR

that will replace the master boot record so the drive will no longer be able to boot until you put a new system on it.

You can quickly test if the drive can at least boot DOS by typing
A:
SYS C:
When finished, reboot.
You should boot to a command prompt C:\
If it still fails something lower level is the problem.
ie dodgy cable/socket, hard drive problem (maybe jumper setting), corrupt CMOS or faulty setting, motherboard/controller failure...
 
how many hard drives do you have? if you have more than one, see if you can see the boot order on each drive. also, what mobo do you have? i have to do that for my Asus A8V.
 
Chernobyl1 said:
yes.
If you can get a DOS disk, boot from it.
at the command prompt type
FDISK /MBR
You may need to be on the drive that you wish to fix, if so type
C:
A:\FDISK /MBR

that will replace the master boot record so the drive will no longer be able to boot until you put a new system on it.

You can quickly test if the drive can at least boot DOS by typing
A:
SYS C:
When finished, reboot.
You should boot to a command prompt C:\
If it still fails something lower level is the problem.
ie dodgy cable/socket, hard drive problem (maybe jumper setting), corrupt CMOS or faulty setting, motherboard/controller failure...
Click to expand...
best advice so far
 
ok...here is the thing...I don't have a floppy drive. This isn't the first time this has bit me in the ars...should I pick one up? Or can I do this without it some other way....?

I found this randomly searching

formating does not remove the mbr. you need to boot into recovery console on the windows cdrom (assuiming you have win2k or xp) then type: fdisk /mbr

But since I am at work I cannot see if it will work, I know you can get to a dos prompt from recovery but I didn't think you could do this piece.

The thing that really bites is once I leave work I am internet less so I hope I can print off anything that will help.

Yours is definately in my bag just wondering if I need to stop at compusa on the way home...I'd just hate to pay $20 for a floppy drive if I didn't need to.

Seriously thanks everyone for the help. I guess I will see tonight what I can figure out.
 
The recovery console version should work.
I cant think off the top of my head what you should expect to see, perhaps someone else can help.

Just in case, see if the IT guys at work can lend or sell you an old floppy drive.
You will also need a DOS disk, try to get DOS 6.0 or above.
A Win98 boot disk is perfect.

If the IT guys are really nice they might lend you a DOS bootable USB pen (with fdisk and sys.com on it).
No harm in asking if they cant help you with the floppy.
They may even have a DOS bootable CD.
 
Well for whatever reason the recovery console piece didn't work. When I try and run fdisk it says it cannot do that operation. Did some looking and it seems it doesn't have it.

I also tried low level formatting my drive, took 7 hours! to zero fill it and then I woke up this morning and nope same fricken error.

I feel like going office space on the damn thing.

Looked around the office for a floppy too ugg nothing lying around.
 
If the zero fill utility didn't work, then it's time to follow the best advice left untried. Replace the CD/DVD drive with another one. You have to know a friend or someone that can lend you one. Most computer types have boxes of them lying around. Anyone will do for now, just to determine the problem.
 
agreed, the data on the drive isnt part of the problem if low level formatted.
What did you use to low level format it?

PATA IDE cables are notorious for giving bad connections, I have many that only have one working connector now.
Try changing the IDE cable and reset the CMOS as well as trying another CD Drive.
 
I have the same problem, got my GIgabyte 965 s3 back from RMA yesterday, so i slapped my new system together, got a Sata hard drive.. was going thru the xp pro sp2 install, and same symptoms where it would "restart" after loadign teh install files, and after the bios boots up, it wouldnt load anything and just restart reboot.

Im at school right now, when i get home I will try another cdrom drive. I have a xp pro sp2 disc and was getting a few errors (files cant be found) yadda on it, and also an older xp pro cd and also getting different files cant be found errors. Hopefully its only my cdrom drive (IDE cable).. so I will also try a different cable jus in case


Also, i had my soundcard plugged in etc.. maybe I should try bare install without any accessories hooked up.
 
hey i got mines going!!

try this it might work.
Boot up the win xp install cd, press r to go into the repair command prompt...
then change to " d: " then type "fixmbr"

let it do that, then after that reboot and then delete teh partition on your drive thru the win xp install. then have it create a new one. Try that. It worked for me
 
hypertek said:
hey i got mines going!!

try this it might work.
Boot up the win xp install cd, press r to go into the repair command prompt...
then change to " d: " then type "fixmbr"

let it do that, then after that reboot and then delete teh partition on your drive thru the win xp install. then have it create a new one. Try that. It worked for me
Click to expand...
That's been done several times already, including a zero-fill of the HDD.
 
Yea I have tried to fix the Mbr many times with different utilities heh. Thanks though, I am glad it worked for you.

Anyways the next chapter in this saga is that I gave it to comp usa. I can honestly say in my 26 years of life this is the first thing I have never been able to fix on my own.

Oh well if they can get it up and running my peace of mind is worth the $.

I'll let you know what is hopefully the final chapter (it WORKING) but knowing my luck they'll find a demon in it or something heh.

Thanks again for everyones advice.
 
hah ok. yah they should get it for sure.. .hopefully wont cost too much.

sometimes i wanna call a friend over to look at my problems, but sometimes i think that i would prolly know more then them so it would be no use lol
 
Zenzrevenge said:
Oh well if they can get it up and running my peace of mind is worth the $.
Click to expand...

I hear that - and besides, a shop like that will have more resources to work with - i.e. they can easily grab parts to swap components and isolate the issue. Regardless of your level of expertise, those resources can be critical in diagnosing a problem.

Anyway I think you made the right call. Enjoy your working system - when it comes back :)
 
Is this a PATA drive by any change? Make sure it's on the first PATA channel. That got me on my Asus A8N for the longest time (CD-Rom was primary channel, HDD on secondary and WinXP did not want to install, no matter what!)
 
Well an unexpected turn has come. Turns out the northbridge on the mobo is shot. yea!

It is what it is.
 
good to see you found the reason to your problem. now RMA that pile o' junk :D
 
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