Problem installing windows XP

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Rahburt-33

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I need help
I'm attempting to install Windows XP (and have tried 2000 as well) onto my old laptop. I know for certain that the laptop meets the XP system requirements, as other people have installed XP on this laptop. Whether I use the CD or start the install from within Windows, the laptop starts loading the drivers for the setup, then hangs at "Setup is starting Windows"
(Right before press F8 to agree to license agreement). It does this with both Windows XP and 2000.
I have tried many things, cd's with nLite, taking the laptop apart and removing the modem and trackpad, pressing F5 and selecting what HAL to use, but absolutely no progress has been made at all. Does anyone have an idea on how to make this work?
 
what model laptop is it?

I dont think its the issue, but just to make sure: does the laptop have a SATA drive or EIDE (PATA) drive?

Do you know if this is a stable machine? you can download some bootable diagnostic discs to test it. Test CPU, memory, hard drive, etc.



Do you have access to an external usb optical drive? if the laptop has the option to boot to it try that.
 
I ran memtest and it came out with no problems. (That's what most people had problems with when I googled this)
It uses IDE PATA, it's an old Presario 1260. What are some programs that I can use to test other parts of the computer?
It doesn't support USB-boot.
 
My guess is something is wrong with the HDD or RAM. Have you tried another setup CD?

Can you test with another HDD? What about trying installing with only one stick of RAM?
 
I've tried 3 different setup CD's, neither of them worked. I don't have another hard drive to use. I already tested the ram.

Edit: I disabled the Hard drive in the bios and it still had the same problem.

My guess is that it's the PCMCIA slot now.
 
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How long are you letting it sit at "Setup is starting Windows?" I've had a few PCs that have gone catatonic at that screen sometimes from about a minute to 10-15 minutes, depending on the computer's speed.
 
The first few times I probably let it sit there for an hour
But more recently it's only been a few minutes. I can probably let it go right now with everything disconected

Edit: if I ctrl+alt+del while it's at this sreen, the computer doesn't reset
So it's probably not taking forever, just frozen
 
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Rahburt-33 said:
What are some programs that I can use to test other parts of the computer?t.
Click to expand...
look up hiren's boot cd and ultimate boot cd.

They are very generic rescue discs that have A LOT of tools on them (i sometimes wonder if they have too much...). Both of them have stress tests for cpu and memory as well. If one of the tests immediately starts failing when you start it, try a different one to make sure that specific program isn't failing somehow.
 
None of the hardware failed tests. Anyone know of a way where I can just plug the laptop's hard drive into a desktop and install windows on the desktop. (Retail copies of windows, IDE hard drive)
Or would I have to get some sort of adapter...
 
Rahburt-33 said:
None of the hardware failed tests. Anyone know of a way where I can just plug the laptop's hard drive into a desktop and install windows on the desktop. (Retail copies of windows, IDE hard drive)
Or would I have to get some sort of adapter...
Click to expand...

Since its pata you'd need an adapter. (an inexpensive one, basically just relocates the pins)

But you'd probably run into not-the-same-hardware booting issues after you move it back.

An adapter like: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0263181 or http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0223240.

If you acquire such an adapter, you could also format & make the hd bootable (to dos) and copy the install files on, and start the install from the hd instead of the cd, in case its an issue with the cdrom drive.
 
Well I tried running the install from within Windows 98, but when I select "Windows XP Pro Setup" from the boot menu, it just does the same thing as if I would load a disk, and freezes at the same spot
 
Rahburt-33 said:
Well I tried running the install from within Windows 98, but when I select "Windows XP Pro Setup" from the boot menu, it just does the same thing as if I would load a disk, and freezes at the same spot
Click to expand...

You've said earlier that you've tried three (burned?) different XP install CDs. Maybe your CD/DVD burner's on the fritz?
 
Well, one of them is a 2k disk. And my burner is in an iMac
so it (should) be good
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Well, shame on me for not reading the whole thread. I think I have an answer pertaining to your laptop model, but you're not going to like it.

You're not the only one that has had problems installing XP on this particular laptop. Even Windows 2000. Unfortunately, it looks like there isn't a real solution to getting any Windows version NT 5.0 and above installed on this laptop, even if it's got the latest BIOS version and firmware fixes. The final post in the former link claims a successful install after "nliting" the hell out of it, but he doesn't explain what he removed, not to mention that the thread is now over 3 years old and locked (it also looks like he's been inactive for that long as well).

If this is your first time installing XP or 2000 on that laptop then you might as well give up. As much as it pains me to say this, there are computers out there that meet or even exceed all of the requirements of 2k/XP, but for a variety of reasons from confilcting hardware to a manufacturer's sloppy firmware or BIOS coding, getting either one of those OSes installed is virtually impossible. I guess that's the nature of a lot of the consumer-based Presario notebook line-up of the 1996-2000 era. I say that because my dad has owned a Presario 1622 and a Presario 1200-XL. Both were given to me as "hand me downs" after he upgraded to something better. I have tried upgrading each one to Windows XP and IME they were the most finicky installs I have ever experienced. While I was able to install and run XP Pro on the 1200-XL, it had the funniest quirks and inconsistensies when trying to run anything not to mention that it ran at a snail's pace with only 192MB of RAM (funny, because Windows 98 ran rather well on the same system). Windows XP would not install on the 1622 (even though it met all sys requirements), but I was able to install Windows 2000. However, while it would boot Windows 95/98 every time it was turned on, it seemed like it would only boot 2000 whenever it felt like it. That is, most of the time it would spit out some funny symbols after POST and give up.

Now, you could try some alternatives. If you must have something robust and secure with a small footprint, you could try Puppy Linux or Damn Small Linux. If you must insist on keeping it Windows-only, staying with Windows 98 SE would probably be the best choice as it seems like Compaq intended that 98 would be the only version of Windows this laptop would ever see, despite sacrificing security and stability. There's also an ongoing project called KernelEX, which aims to make Windows 98 compatible with (some) Windows 2000/XP-only software. Lastly you could try Windows NT 4.0, but I assume you're laptop would exhibit the same problems on install (not to mention that it's too god damn old).

Perhaps with those three options, you can also install VNC or Remote desktop (rdesktop if you're using linux) and use it as a thin-client. That's probably the closest you'll ever get to running XP (or Vista or 7) on that laptop.
 
There are some programs I want to run that are windows (A few games, nothing to new, they were all made for windows 98)
You think Wine would handle them well?
 
Rahburt-33 said:
Ugghh, I just want this thing to get wireless, and to work with external flash/hard drives
Click to expand...

Do you already have a wireless card?

You're pretty much outta luck if you want wireless when running Windows 98 as it was already ancient when 802.11b was becoming popular (there are some ancient 802.11b cards that were compatible with Win98 but good luck finding them). I don't think there exists an 802.11g or n card that is compatible with that OS. If you absolutely must have networking under Windows 98, you can try an ethernet card like this and attach it to a wireless bridge or directly to your router. With Linux, you'll have to do some research on what card works and what doesn't. There are plenty of 802.11a/b/g cards that can be run under linux using ndiswrapper ("wraps" a 2000/XP network driver in a compatible module that can be used by Linux). There are also a handful of Atheros-based cards that have native support under Linux .

For USB flash drives under Windows 98, I use this software. I can't say if it will work with USB hard disk drives, but IME I have had no problems using it with flash drives (as long as they're formatted with FAT or FAT32).

Rahburt-33 said:
There are some programs I want to run that are windows (A few games, nothing to new, they were all made for windows 98)
You think Wine would handle them well?
Click to expand...

Check out http://appdb.winehq.org/. There's a whole database on which software is compatible and which isn't. Any programs you have that are not listed in the database might work, but there are no guarantees. Dual-booting Linux and Windows would be the best option for compatibility, especially for older games.
 
I actually do remember looking for a way to get USB-drives to work. And I'm pretty sure there is an NTFS driver for windows 98

But I'm considering just installing puppy linux and using wine instead, have a much better chance of getting a wifi device that will work with the OS if I do this anyway
 
Rahburt-33 said:
I actually do remember looking for a way to get USB-drives to work. And I'm pretty sure there is an NTFS driver for windows 98

But I'm considering just installing puppy linux and using wine instead, have a much better chance of getting a wifi device that will work with the OS if I do this anyway
Click to expand...

Hope everything works out for you and your Presario. It's a shame that you can't install 2000 or XP on there thanks to Compaq's lack of foresight (probably one of the reasons they're owned by HP now). Even if you were able to get either one running, the sluggishness would drive you nuts thanks to the 160MB RAM limit.

There are some 3rd party tools that allow access to NTFS partitions within DOS/Win9x, with most of them being pay apps or shareware. There's one free, though unsupported utility called NTFS4DOS (created by the guys at Avira) that will allow you to mount, read (write?) ntfs partitions and volumes. It's more of a program than a driver so you'll need to keep a command line window open in order to browse files.
 
Thanks for all of your help
This laptop is gonna be temporary untill I get some money to buy a new nice one.
 
Try searching craigslist for laptops.

I've gotten a friend a $75 P4 machine with wireless and XP Home.
 
Sorry, some things I forgot to ask: Have you gone into the BIOS setup and disable everything that would seem non-essential, such as serial ports, APM/ACPI or power savings, parallel ports, heck even the floppy drive controller if you can boot from the CD directly? If Linux/XP/whatever installs/boots try enabling one feature at a time?
Does the BIOS offer a "Load Default values" or "Load Optimized values"? Have you used those options?

Man, now I'm tempted to buy one of these laptops off fleabay just to see if anything other than DOS/Win98 can be installed. :p I'm nearing my wits end with what I know from past experience + heavy-duty research on this laptop's specs and limitations.
 
I tried deactivating a bunch of stuff in the bios when I was working with XP. Didn't think to do it in Linux. The computer actually has a DVD drive which it can boot directly from, so the floppy disk drive is dead weight. The bios has a "disk option" for DOS or Other, other is primarily for Linux, which I have it set to.
 
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