CD Install problem (blank screen after boot)

  • Thread starter Thread starter OtisUsenet
  • Start date Start date
O

OtisUsenet

Hello,

I'm trying to reinstall Windows XP from a CD, but after booting from
the CD, and a message on the top of the screen saying "Setup is
inspecting your computer's hardware configuration...", the screen goes
blank and the HD-access LED starts blinking madly. The screen remains
blank, and the LED remains blinking forever.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?
It doesn't look like something is wrong with the CD-ROM, because it
reads other boot discs.
It doesn't look like the CD is bad either, because other computers can
boot from it.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm on a verge of installing Linux or
getting a Mac, and at this point I'd rather just install XP.

Thank you.
 
OtisUsenet said:
Hello,

I'm trying to reinstall Windows XP from a CD, but after booting from
the CD, and a message on the top of the screen saying "Setup is
inspecting your computer's hardware configuration...", the screen goes
blank and the HD-access LED starts blinking madly. The screen remains
blank, and the LED remains blinking forever.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?
It doesn't look like something is wrong with the CD-ROM, because it
reads other boot discs.
It doesn't look like the CD is bad either, because other computers can
boot from it.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm on a verge of installing Linux or
getting a Mac, and at this point I'd rather just install XP.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

You will also have difficulty in installing Linux because you apparently
have hardware problems and that has nothing to do with the operating
system. Naturally, buying an Apple is a solution.

Do some basic hardware troubleshooting, starting with the RAM and hard
drive. Make sure you don't have any peripherals connected. You might
want to try installing with only a video card and no other PCI cards.
Perhaps your video card is bad. There really is no way for us to tell.
Here are some general hardware troubleshooting steps:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Troubleshooting

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Malke
 
Hi Malke, thanks for the quick response!

I don't think this is the case of bad hardware - I can boot off of a
Linux CD and install it without any problems. It is just the Windows
XP CD that's the problem. :( And the same CD works in my other
computers, so it's not a problem in CD either.

The machine currently has Linux (installed it after C:\WINDOWS got
corrupt/disappeared a few months back), so the master boot record has
Grub sitting there (Linux boot manager). Could that be the problem?

Is there a way for me to wipe the whole disk completely? The machine
doesn't have a floppy to boot from, so I can run format C:... perhaps I
can do it from Linux.

Thanks.
 
OtisUsenet said:
Hi Malke, thanks for the quick response!

I don't think this is the case of bad hardware - I can boot off of a
Linux CD and install it without any problems. It is just the Windows
XP CD that's the problem. :( And the same CD works in my other
computers, so it's not a problem in CD either.

The machine currently has Linux (installed it after C:\WINDOWS got
corrupt/disappeared a few months back), so the master boot record has
Grub sitting there (Linux boot manager). Could that be the problem?

Is there a way for me to wipe the whole disk completely? The machine
doesn't have a floppy to boot from, so I can run format C:... perhaps
I can do it from Linux.
Click to expand...

Having this information in your *first* post would have been most
useful.

If you don't care about the currently installed Linux distro, then boot
with the XP cd and go into Recovery Console. Do fixmbr to completely
remove Grub. Then reboot with the XP cd and take the installation.
Delete all system partitions on the hard drive (and any other
partitions used for Linux) and create a new one for XP. Format it NTFS.
Now try your install.

You do not need a floppy drive. All XP install cd's are bootable.

Malke
 
Hi Malke,
Having this information in your *first* post would have been most
useful.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Sorry about that.
If you don't care about the currently installed Linux distro, then boot
with the XP cd and go into Recovery Console. Do fixmbr to completely
Click to expand...

Hm, while I can "boot" from the XP CD, I am not sure if I should call
that a full boot. I get to:
- "Press any key to boot from CD ..." <I press any key>
- "Setup is inspecting your hardware...." <this is where screen goes
blank and HDD LED on>

So I'm not sure how I can get to the Recovery Console.... is there some
other way to get there?
remove Grub. Then reboot with the XP cd and take the installation.
Delete all system partitions on the hard drive (and any other
partitions used for Linux) and create a new one for XP. Format it NTFS.
Now try your install.

You do not need a floppy drive. All XP install cd's are bootable.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
I think I just need to blow away the MBR. Maybe after I do that the
machine will start fully booting from an XP CD. Now if I could only
wipe out the MBR from Linux somehow...
 
OtisUsenet said:
I think I just need to blow away the MBR. Maybe after I do that the
machine will start fully booting from an XP CD. Now if I could only
wipe out the MBR from Linux somehow...
Click to expand...

Determine the manufacturer of your hard drive, go to that website and
download
one of their ISO images for diags and burn it to a cd. It will be bootable
and
you can wipe the hard drive with it and start from scratch. If that doesn't
work
you may have other hardware troubles.

later.....
 
XP is far more resource demanding than Linux. Where another OS might install
on the hardware XP will often croak. I'd suspect RAM or possibly the power
supply.

Try a stripped down install. If possible remove all peripherals and cards
that you don't really need. Basically you need video, RAM, HD,
keyboard/mouse, one CD drive. Disconnect the rest. If you have more than one
stick of RAM try pulling one stick and see if that helps.
 
Harry said:
XP is far more resource demanding than Linux. Where another OS might
install on the hardware XP will often croak. I'd suspect RAM or
possibly the power supply.

Try a stripped down install. If possible remove all peripherals and
cards that you don't really need. Basically you need video, RAM, HD,
keyboard/mouse, one CD drive. Disconnect the rest. If you have more
than one stick of RAM try pulling one stick and see if that helps.
Click to expand...

Actually Harry, the above isn't exactly true any more. It really depends
on which window manager is being used. KDE is just as
resource-intensive as XP. However, you do have the choice of running a
more light-weight window manager or even no gui at all which is
probably what you were thinking of.

Malke
 
Back
Top