Can't do a clean install

  • Thread starter Thread starter m_corbelli
  • Start date Start date
M

m_corbelli

I'm trying to do a fresh install of Windows XP pro from a store bought
upgrade install disc onto a 3 year old Gateway laptop. Everything goes
well at first. I go through the usual install scripts, it asks for a
previous copy of Windows etc. The first time it does a required
reboot, however, it starts me back at square one, so I am going in
circles at this point. Any ideas please?
 
I'm trying to do a fresh install of Windows XP pro from a store
bought upgrade install disc onto a 3 year old Gateway laptop.
Everything goes well at first. I go through the usual install
scripts, it asks for a previous copy of Windows etc. The first
time it does a required reboot, however, it starts me back at
square one, so I am going in circles at this point. Any ideas
please?
Click to expand...

Are you "Pressing any key to boot from CD" each time?

If "yes" - don't do that.
 
I'm trying to do a fresh install of Windows XP pro from a store bought
upgrade install disc onto a 3 year old Gateway laptop. Everything goes
well at first. I go through the usual install scripts, it asks for a
previous copy of Windows etc. The first time it does a required
reboot, however, it starts me back at square one, so I am going in
circles at this point. Any ideas please?
Click to expand...

What do you mean by "etc."? Do you have a qualifying version of Windows
for the upgrade? If so, please describe the disk. Is it an actual XP
installation CD or a Gateway recovery/restore CD? Did you place the disk
in the CD tray?

If you don't have an installation CD, you won't be able to perform a
clean install. And if you can't obtain one, you will need to do a fresh
install of your old OS (laying down a fresh image of the hard drive the
way it was when it left the factory) and then an inplace upgrade.

When you reboot, you are not supposed boot off the CD-ROM drive. Make
sure you boot off the hard drive. That is, don't press the "anykey." :-)
 
Are you "Pressing any key to boot from CD" each time?

If "yes" - don't do that.
Click to expand...

Yes, that worked so far so good. But I have another related or maybe
unrelated problem. Perhaps someone can help. If I turn this computer
on while it's plugged in, it hangs with a black screen with a blinking
cursor in the upper left hand corner. If I unplug it before it reboots
so it's working off the battery, it boots OK. So I have to unplug it
right before a reboot during install, or I start over. Then, while
it's running I plug it back in as not to use up the battery. It's been
doing this for several months and we've just kept it plugged in all
the time and haven't shut it off. I was hoping a clean install would
solve this but now I'm not so sure.
 
<snipped>

Yes, that worked so far so good. But I have another related or maybe
unrelated problem. Perhaps someone can help. If I turn this computer
on while it's plugged in, it hangs with a black screen with a
blinking
cursor in the upper left hand corner. If I unplug it before it
reboots
so it's working off the battery, it boots OK. So I have to unplug it
right before a reboot during install, or I start over. Then, while
it's running I plug it back in as not to use up the battery. It's
been
doing this for several months and we've just kept it plugged in all
the time and haven't shut it off. I was hoping a clean install would
solve this but now I'm not so sure.
Click to expand...

Sounds like defective hardware. Either bad battery or a bad component on
the mainboard that regulates the charging/usage of the battery vs. the usage
of 'from the wall' power.
 
If it is if fact you are using a CD that is a "Retail Version" of XP,
(upgrade or full version) then after you start the Clean Install of XP and
during the install process when XP reboots the computer "Do Not" press any
keys on the keyboard to "Boot from CD", let XP reboot without any
intervention on your part.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com
 
If it is if fact you are using a CD that is a "Retail Version" of XP,
(upgrade or full version) then after you start the Clean Install of XP and
during the install process when XP reboots the computer "Do Not" press any
keys on the keyboard to "Boot from CD", let XP reboot without any
intervention on your part.

JShttp://www.pagestart.com






- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

My install went OK but there is now a screen that comes up during
every boot asking which of two windows xp OS's to boot with (there
should only be one). I can hit enter or it counts down 30 seconds and
does it for me. This has never happened to me before when doing a
clean install. I would prefer it not do that. Anyone know how to fix
that?
 
Start/Run/msconfig (this open the System Configuration Utility.
Select the BOOT.INI tab
Click on the 'Check All Boot Paths' button.
If Msconfig finds an invalid path (you indicated you have two) it will ask
you to delete the invalid path.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com


If it is if fact you are using a CD that is a "Retail Version" of XP,
(upgrade or full version) then after you start the Clean Install of XP and
during the install process when XP reboots the computer "Do Not" press any
keys on the keyboard to "Boot from CD", let XP reboot without any
intervention on your part.

JShttp://www.pagestart.com






- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

My install went OK but there is now a screen that comes up during
every boot asking which of two windows xp OS's to boot with (there
should only be one). I can hit enter or it counts down 30 seconds and
does it for me. This has never happened to me before when doing a
clean install. I would prefer it not do that. Anyone know how to fix
that?
 
My install went OK but there is now a screen that comes up during
every boot asking which of two windows xp OS's to boot with (there
should only be one). I can hit enter or it counts down 30 seconds and
does it for me. This has never happened to me before when doing a
clean install. I would prefer it not do that. Anyone know how to fix
that?
Click to expand...

You ended up with two installs of XP on the drive. That can cause
problems and confusion down the road, so the best thing to do is to
start over: This time when you boot from the CD, delete the partition/s
and recreate it/them, and continue on with the format, etc as instructed
on the screen.
Now that you know what to (or not do) you won't accidentally get a
second install of XP again.
And, play close attention to the screen instructions. In one place,
it tells you not to touch the keyboard again - you must have missed that
which is why you got misdirected and confused.

OR, live with it until you get the install completed, and then if/when
everything works, edit boot.ini to stop the problem.
OR, you could even do that now as long as you delete the right one.
The line in boot.ini to keep will be the one with the lowest numbers in
it; as in, 0 vs 1. Delete the other one. But be sure before you do it;
if in doubt, ask. Boot.ini I believe is also a hidden system file so
you can't initially see it with explorer, but you CAN search for it, and
edit it with Notepad once Search locates it. It lives in the C:\ root
directory.

HTH

Twayne
 
My install went OK but there is now a screen that comes up during
every boot asking which of two windows xp OS's to boot with (there
should only be one). I can hit enter or it counts down 30 seconds
and does it for me. This has never happened to me before when doing
a clean install. I would prefer it not do that. Anyone know how to
fix that?
Click to expand...

That means you did a parallel installation instead of a clean installation.
If you had backed everything up and your intention was to truly start from
scratch with a clean slate - you would be better off actually performing a
clean installation now before you continue (IMHO).

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
 
That means you did a parallel installation instead of a clean installation.
If you had backed everything up and your intention was to truly start from
scratch with a clean slate - you would be better off actually performing a
clean installation now before you continue (IMHO).

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
Click to expand...

I did start over last night before I read these latest posts. I had
two partitions, one was a 4 gb rescue partition (D:) and one was a 70
+ gb main partition (C:). I deleted all partitions and created a
single c: partition, then formatted it (not the quick) NTFS. I then re-
installed Windows, never touching the keyboard. When Windows did the
final reboot guess what....two copies of XP on a black screen. I've
already re-installed all the drivers and today plan to re-install all
the docs, email files, programs I want. I don't care if it has a
parallel copy now as I've done all I can and don't want to mess with
it anymore unless it's going to cause trouble down the line. I am
intrerested in just having it boot from one or the other but not
slowing down the startup by 30 seconds. How do I change the boot.ini
file to fix that?
 
That means you did a parallel installation instead of a clean
installation.
If you had backed everything up and your intention was to truly start from
scratch with a clean slate - you would be better off actually performing a
clean installation now before you continue (IMHO).

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
Click to expand...

I did start over last night before I read these latest posts. I had
two partitions, one was a 4 gb rescue partition (D:) and one was a 70
+ gb main partition (C:). I deleted all partitions and created a
single c: partition, then formatted it (not the quick) NTFS. I then re-
installed Windows, never touching the keyboard. When Windows did the
final reboot guess what....two copies of XP on a black screen. I've
already re-installed all the drivers and today plan to re-install all
the docs, email files, programs I want. I don't care if it has a
parallel copy now as I've done all I can and don't want to mess with
it anymore unless it's going to cause trouble down the line. I am
intrerested in just having it boot from one or the other but not
slowing down the startup by 30 seconds. How do I change the boot.ini
file to fix that?

Have you tried what JS suggested earlier?
 
I did start over last night before I read these latest posts. I had
two partitions, one was a 4 gb rescue partition (D:) and one was a 70
+ gb main partition (C:). I deleted all partitions and created a
single c: partition, then formatted it (not the quick) NTFS. I then re-
installed Windows, never touching the keyboard. When Windows did the
final reboot guess what....two copies of XP on a black screen. I've
already re-installed all the drivers and today plan to re-install all
the docs, email files, programs I want. I don't care if it has a
parallel copy now as I've done all I can and don't want to mess with
it anymore unless it's going to cause trouble down the line. I am
intrerested in just having it boot from one or the other but not
slowing down the startup by 30 seconds. How do I change the boot.ini
file to fix that?

Have you tried what JS suggested earlier?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Yes, I missed that further up. I did what JS suggested and it worked.
Looks like I'm in business. Thanks all!

PS. I have two ISP's. One at work (Verizon) and one at home (Comcast)
and BOTH have stopped offering newsgroup service! I now have to access
newsgroups like this through Google.
 
PS. I have two ISP's. One at work (Verizon) and one at home (Comcast)
and BOTH have stopped offering newsgroup service! I now have to access
newsgroups like this through Google.
Click to expand...


Not at all true, and not a good idea. Google is an excellent source
for searching newsgroups, but a very poor choice, in my view, for
participating in them.

Although your experience was accessing newsgroups through your ISP,
that's by no means a requirement. There are many third-party news
servers available. Some of them charge a fee, others are free. I also
used to use to use Comcast for my general newsgroups, but recently
switch to the free Motzarella (text only, no binary groups), which
works just as well, as far as I'm concerned. For Microsoft newsgroups,
I use msnews.microsoft.com, and also use three other news servers for
specialized groups.

You use Mozilla (about which I know nothing) as your newsreader, but
let me point out that almost all news readers let you use use multiple
news servers easily. As I pointed out above, I use five servers.
 
I did start over last night before I read these latest posts. I had
two partitions, one was a 4 gb rescue partition (D:) and one was a 70
+ gb main partition (C:). I deleted all partitions and created a
single c: partition, then formatted it (not the quick) NTFS. I then
re- installed Windows, never touching the keyboard. When Windows did
the final reboot guess what....two copies of XP on a black screen.
I've already re-installed all the drivers and today plan to
re-install all the docs, email files, programs I want. I don't care
if it has a parallel copy now as I've done all I can and don't want
to mess with it anymore unless it's going to cause trouble down the
line. I am intrerested in just having it boot from one or the other
but not slowing down the startup by 30 seconds. How do I change the
boot.ini file to fix that?

Have you tried what JS suggested earlier?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Yes, I missed that further up. I did what JS suggested and it worked.
Looks like I'm in business. Thanks all!

PS. I have two ISP's. One at work (Verizon) and one at home (Comcast)
and BOTH have stopped offering newsgroup service! I now have to access
newsgroups like this through Google.[/QUOTE]

Verizon has not stopped offering newsgroup service. They stopped
offering the alt.* newsgroups, which is a lot of newsgroups. There are
lots of other free and pay servers where you can get all your fav
groups; just look for them. Google is pretty much a mess for anything
useful on a day to day basis IMO.
 
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