Installing XP Pro on Hard Drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Boris
  • Start date Start date
B

Boris

Hi,

I'm updating the OS on an old P4, 1.6MHZ. It's currently running Windows
2000 Pro, but I want to install a retail version of Windows XP Pro on it.
The problem is that I can't get the machine to boot from CD. All attempts
have failed over the last two evenings.

I've installed a barely used 160GB Western Digital hard drive as the
master, and set to boot from a Windows 98SE startup floppy. The floppy
creates a ramdrive D, and I can then log to the CD-ROM, and if the Windows
XP CD is in it, I can read all the files just fine.

From the floppy I need to fdisk, but there's where my memory fails me.
It's been a long time since I've had to use DOS to partition a hard drive.
I can't remember if once I creat a primary DOS partition (just one large
partition) do I need to set it active? If so, do I reboot first, and then
set active, or set active before a reboot? Also, do I then need to format,
or should I log on to the Windows XP CD, and run winnt from the i386
folder?

I have gotten the message that smartdrv.exe is not on my system. Where can
I find this file, and where should I copy it to, before attempting setting
up Windows?

Many thanks.
 
Boris, have you tried installing the OS from Windows 2000?
Click to expand...

It's running fine on Windows 2000, but that's not what I want to run. I
want to run WinXP, and have the retail CD to install it, but no matter
what I do, the system won't read from CD.
 
Boris, when you are in Win2K and you insert the WinXP CD into the
drive, can you read it. If you can, go to the install.exe file
and double click it. It should start the Install. Select new install
and not upgrade.
 
     Boris, when you are in Win2K  and you insert the WinXP CD into the
drive, can you read it. If you can, go to the install.exe file
     and double click it. It should start the Install.  Select new install
Click to expand...

Hi, Rich,

Thanks for the reply. I've done that...with win2k as the master, and
the new drive as a slave, I simply start the machine, 2k boots
normally, I go to the winxp cd, click off setup, and I'm told I can't
setup over the already existing win2k, which is fine, and my only
other choice is Advanced Install, so I choose that, which allows me to
install XP to the new drive. But, what happens when I do that, is the
I'm told that the install can't be done in DOS, and I have to exit.
 
Boris said:
Hi,

I'm updating the OS on an old P4, 1.6MHZ. It's currently running
Windows 2000 Pro, but I want to install a retail version of Windows
XP Pro on it. The problem is that I can't get the machine to boot
from CD. All attempts have failed over the last two evenings.
Click to expand...

What is the make and model of the PC? Are you *sure* you configured the
BIOS to make sure the CD-ROM drive is the first boot priority? When you
say "All attempts have failed," what exactly do you mean?
 
Boris said:
Hi,

I'm updating the OS on an old P4, 1.6MHZ. It's currently running
Windows 2000 Pro, but I want to install a retail version of Windows
XP Pro on it. The problem is that I can't get the machine to boot
from CD. All attempts have failed over the last two evenings.

I've installed a barely used 160GB Western Digital hard drive as the
master, and set to boot from a Windows 98SE startup floppy. The
floppy creates a ramdrive D, and I can then log to the CD-ROM, and if
the Windows XP CD is in it, I can read all the files just fine.

From the floppy I need to fdisk, but there's where my memory fails me.
It's been a long time since I've had to use DOS to partition a hard
drive. I can't remember if once I creat a primary DOS partition (just
one large partition) do I need to set it active? If so, do I reboot
first, and then set active, or set active before a reboot? Also, do
I then need to format, or should I log on to the Windows XP CD, and
run winnt from the i386 folder?

I have gotten the message that smartdrv.exe is not on my system.
Where can I find this file, and where should I copy it to, before
attempting setting up Windows?

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

You have to actually boot from the XP CD to do what you want. To do
that, you might have to go into your BIOS CMOS System settings
(whichever it's called<g>) and set the CD to be the first boot device
with your hard drive as the second boot drive.
That way it'll look for the CD to boot from first and if there is no
CD in the drive of if it's not bootable, it'll just boot 2000.
When it's working right, during a boot you'll get a prompt like
"Press any key to boot from the CD" and a countdown will start, which
will put you back into 2000 if you don't press a key before it reaches
zero.

It's a very round about way to do it using a boot floppy.

HTH,

Twayne`
 
You have to actually boot from the XP CD to do what you want. To do
that, you might have to go into your BIOS CMOS System settings
(whichever it's called<g>) and set the CD to be the first boot device
with your hard drive as the second boot drive.
That way it'll look for the CD to boot from first and if there is no
CD in the drive of if it's not bootable, it'll just boot 2000.
When it's working right, during a boot you'll get a prompt like
"Press any key to boot from the CD" and a countdown will start, which
will put you back into 2000 if you don't press a key before it reaches
zero.

It's a very round about way to do it using a boot floppy.

HTH,

Twayne`
Click to expand...

Hi,

Yes, I'm aware that the way to do this is to boot from the XP CD. I've
done it many times doing clean installs on other machines. I am familiar
with making changes, etc. within a BIOS, I do it all the time. The
problem is that this particular machine will not boot from CD. The BIOS
allows me to set it to boot from CD, and I've done that, but it simply
will not.

The original set up was a Win2000 Pro, SP1:

A: NEC floppy
C: Western Digital 80GB, Win2000, primary IDE channel, jumpered single
D: NEC CD-ROM, secondary IDE, jumpered master
E: Plextor DVD/R, secondary IDE, jumpered slave

The CD-ROM would always read data cds, but about 90% of the time would
not read audio cds. If an audio cd were placed in D, it would not auto
start Windows Media Player, even though set to do so. If I navigated to
D with Windows Explorer, it said please insert a disk in drive D.

The DVD/R would never read either data or audio cds.

By the way, the BIOS recognizes both optical drives, and even in Device
Manager, the optical drives are recognized, and 'working properly'.
System Information (Accessories) also reports the optical drives
properly. I did uninstall and reinstall the generic Windows drivers (and
secondary IDE controller) for these optical drives, but no luck fixing
the problems.

I decided to install Windows XP Pro on to a larger, Western Digital 160GB
hard drive that I had on the shelf from a few years ago, and see if the
optical drives would work under XP. My suspicion was that even though my
son had installed Win2000 from CD years ago, that the optical drives must
have worked then, and it must have booted from CD then, but because he
loved to experiment with OSs and dual booting Linux/Win2000, and video
and sound cards...blah blah blah, that I needed to start from scratch.
With the machine configured as above, I connected this drive to the
primary IDE channnel, jumpered slave, and re-jumpered the Win2000 drive
from single to master.

I started the machine, and Win2000 came up as usual, identifying the
slave hard drive as F. I put the XP cd in D, but no auto start. I
navigated to cd, and clicked off Setup, and XP setup began. It would not
allow me to install XP on/over Win2000 already on C, but did allow me to
do and Advanced Install, which I did on F. All went fine, and when done,
I had a dual boot system with Win2000 on C, and WinXP on F. When I
started the machine, I was presented with the dual boot loader screen,
and I could choose either OS. If I chose XP, guess what, my optical
drives worked fine, and even auto started audio cds. If I chose Win2000,
I was stuck with the problems described above.

I really didn't want a dual boot system. I prefer a single boot system
with XP. so I started to try to install XP on the new hard drive. But,
because the machine won't boot from CD, even when set to do so in the
BIOS, I've had to use a Win98SE startup floppy to install a ramdrive,
which allows me to read the CD-ROM.

If you've read this far, thanks.
 
Boris said:
I'm updating the OS on an old P4, 1.6MHZ. It's currently running
Windows 2000 Pro, but I want to install a retail version of Windows
XP Pro on it. The problem is that I can't get the machine to boot
from CD. All attempts have failed over the last two evenings.

I've installed a barely used 160GB Western Digital hard drive as the
master, and set to boot from a Windows 98SE startup floppy. The
floppy creates a ramdrive D, and I can then log to the CD-ROM, and
if the Windows XP CD is in it, I can read all the files just fine.

From the floppy I need to fdisk, but there's where my memory fails
me. It's been a long time since I've had to use DOS to partition a
hard drive. I can't remember if once I creat a primary DOS
partition (just one large partition) do I need to set it active?
If so, do I reboot first, and then set active, or set active before
a reboot? Also, do I then need to format, or should I log on to
the Windows XP CD, and run winnt from the i386 folder?

I have gotten the message that smartdrv.exe is not on my system.
Where can I find this file, and where should I copy it to, before
attempting setting up Windows?
Click to expand...

Your CD drive and/or the Windows XP CD you are trying to utilize and/or hard
disk drive and/or controller and/or cables need to be checked.

One of those things is crapping out on you.

I base this off your initial posting and all of your follow ups.

Going by this and all your other responses - I am supposing you want a 100%
clean installation. Windows 2000 and all files will be wiped from the
drive - never to return.

The prior OS has *no* bearing at this point. Just the fuctionality of the
hardware.

If your BIOS gives the option to boot from your CD drive, if your CD drive
and cables are good, if your hard disk drive and cables are good and if
there is no issues with your controller card - all of this should work with
nothing more than the Windows XP CD and a few changes in the BIOS and a
keyboard/mouse. (Assuming things like the video card allows you to see the
screen, of course.)

You may have another option, however - although I stand by your need to
check the things above (download the Western Digital utilities CD, burn it
and run the full diags.)

Download and creat the 6-boot Floppy diskettes. Put in the Windows CD, but
boot off the floppy diskettes. (You said you have a floppy drive - this is
why I suggest this.)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994

If after using the 6-boot-diskette option, you still cannot get things
installed - there is a hardware failure on the machine - see above...

Admittedly - it would be the first time I would have seen anyone use the
floppy diskettes with Windows XP Media Center Edition - but since it is just
Professional with a few extra features and a few less features... (So get
the professional edition CDs.)

Also - SP1 or SP2 - I am unsure if there are SP3 floppy diskettes. Although
if this is an original STAMPED CD - you'll likely have one or two and not
SP3.
 
Boris said:
Hi,

Yes, I'm aware that the way to do this is to boot from the XP CD.
I've done it many times doing clean installs on other machines. I am
familiar with making changes, etc. within a BIOS, I do it all the
time. The problem is that this particular machine will not boot from
CD. The BIOS allows me to set it to boot from CD, and I've done
that, but it simply will not.

The original set up was a Win2000 Pro, SP1:

A: NEC floppy
C: Western Digital 80GB, Win2000, primary IDE channel, jumpered single
D: NEC CD-ROM, secondary IDE, jumpered master
E: Plextor DVD/R, secondary IDE, jumpered slave

The CD-ROM would always read data cds, but about 90% of the time would
not read audio cds. If an audio cd were placed in D, it would not
auto start Windows Media Player, even though set to do so. If I
navigated to D with Windows Explorer, it said please insert a disk in
drive D.

The DVD/R would never read either data or audio cds.

By the way, the BIOS recognizes both optical drives, and even in
Device Manager, the optical drives are recognized, and 'working
properly'. System Information (Accessories) also reports the optical
drives properly. I did uninstall and reinstall the generic Windows
drivers (and secondary IDE controller) for these optical drives, but
no luck fixing the problems.

I decided to install Windows XP Pro on to a larger, Western Digital
160GB hard drive that I had on the shelf from a few years ago, and
see if the optical drives would work under XP. My suspicion was that
even though my son had installed Win2000 from CD years ago, that the
optical drives must have worked then, and it must have booted from CD
then, but because he loved to experiment with OSs and dual booting
Linux/Win2000, and video and sound cards...blah blah blah, that I
needed to start from scratch. With the machine configured as above, I
connected this drive to the primary IDE channnel, jumpered slave, and
re-jumpered the Win2000 drive from single to master.

I started the machine, and Win2000 came up as usual, identifying the
slave hard drive as F. I put the XP cd in D, but no auto start. I
navigated to cd, and clicked off Setup, and XP setup began. It would
not allow me to install XP on/over Win2000 already on C, but did
allow me to do and Advanced Install, which I did on F. All went
fine, and when done, I had a dual boot system with Win2000 on C, and
WinXP on F. When I started the machine, I was presented with the
dual boot loader screen, and I could choose either OS. If I chose
XP, guess what, my optical drives worked fine, and even auto started
audio cds. If I chose Win2000, I was stuck with the problems
described above.

I really didn't want a dual boot system. I prefer a single boot
system with XP. so I started to try to install XP on the new hard
drive. But, because the machine won't boot from CD, even when set to
do so in the BIOS, I've had to use a Win98SE startup floppy to
install a ramdrive, which allows me to read the CD-ROM.

If you've read this far, thanks.
Click to expand...

Ideas:

1. Your connections and/or jumper settings are off. I doubt it, but it
can't hurt to double-check.

2. The CD is bad. You can either try it in another PC and see if the
other PC can boot off it. Or you can try another bootable CD.

3. The optical drive is bad and should be replaced (that's my hunch).
 
Boris said:
Hi,

Yes, I'm aware that the way to do this is to boot from the XP CD. I've
done it many times doing clean installs on other machines. I am familiar
with making changes, etc. within a BIOS, I do it all the time. The
problem is that this particular machine will not boot from CD. The BIOS
allows me to set it to boot from CD, and I've done that, but it simply
will not.
Click to expand...

There's a pretty simple test to find out if the system is capable of booting
from CD (assuming that the CD is actually bootable.

Power off, disconnect the hard disk data cables. Set the CD to primary,
and reboot.

If it won't do that, try the six-floppy boot set.
 
Shenan Stanley said:
Your CD drive and/or the Windows XP CD you are trying to utilize
and/or hard disk drive and/or controller and/or cables need to be
checked.
One of those things is crapping out on you.

I base this off your initial posting and all of your follow ups.

Going by this and all your other responses - I am supposing you want
a 100% clean installation. Windows 2000 and all files will be wiped
from the drive - never to return.

The prior OS has *no* bearing at this point. Just the fuctionality
of the hardware.

If your BIOS gives the option to boot from your CD drive, if your CD
drive and cables are good, if your hard disk drive and cables are
good and if there is no issues with your controller card - all of
this should work with nothing more than the Windows XP CD and a few
changes in the BIOS and a keyboard/mouse. (Assuming things like the
video card allows you to see the screen, of course.)

You may have another option, however - although I stand by your need
to check the things above (download the Western Digital utilities CD,
burn it and run the full diags.)

Download and creat the 6-boot Floppy diskettes. Put in the Windows
CD, but boot off the floppy diskettes. (You said you have a floppy
drive - this is why I suggest this.)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994

If after using the 6-boot-diskette option, you still cannot get things
installed - there is a hardware failure on the machine - see above...

Admittedly - it would be the first time I would have seen anyone use
the floppy diskettes with Windows XP Media Center Edition - but since
it is just Professional with a few extra features and a few less
features... (So get the professional edition CDs.)
Click to expand...

If this is an MCE system with an on-disk recovery partition, the process
becomes a little more complex IF he wants to keep the MCE part of the
install. There are almost always one, more likely two, install disks to
be used before using the XP disk; the first two are to set up the hidden
partition and prep the hard drive to receive the proper files for the
recovery operation to function.
Proceeding without the first two discs will install XP just fine, but
not the MCE portion or the hidden partition where the factory backup
lives. Also if the drive has already been formatted completely, the
hidden partition may well be long gone anyway.
The 6-floppy setup set will likely work OK to get XP installed but
not the MCE portio nor the hidden factory partition.
The best bet would be to go to the Mfr (even if the machine is an old
one) and see if he can get the actual recovery CD set; then everything
could run smoothly. Most companies can supply the disc sets for their
older machines. So I'd start with the mfr first and then probably the
6-floppy path and just make up my mind the MCE part and hidden partition
won't be there. Loss of the MCE capability isn't that much anyway;
everything it did is still available to the user, just not as cleanly or
as prettily as the MCE made it. At least that's my experience with the
MCE's to date on several models and what I've read on other relveant
places.
Also - SP1 or SP2 - I am unsure if there are SP3 floppy diskettes.
Although if this is an original STAMPED CD - you'll likely have one
or two and not SP3.
Click to expand...

Last time I was in that mode all I could find was Gold but that was
quite awhile ago. At any rate, yeah, be sure to get the SP's, at least
SP2. SP1a or SP2 is required if you want to install SP3 and SP3 was
another good step for XP, altough in a few cases some machines can have
issues with it. Reading/Using the SP3 install instructios and install
requirements at MS will make the installatio go a lot smoother because
there are a few caveats, though not a lot. SP3 also requires a
substantial amount of disk space during its installation - the install
requirements for that and more.
To date, all the SP3 install failures I've seen have been "fixed"
either by following the MS instructions and/or getting the problems
already in XP repaired before trying to install SP3.

HTH,

Twayne`
 
Your CD drive and/or the Windows XP CD you are trying to utilize
and/or hard disk drive and/or controller and/or cables need to be
checked.

One of those things is crapping out on you.

I base this off your initial posting and all of your follow ups.

Going by this and all your other responses - I am supposing you want a
100% clean installation. Windows 2000 and all files will be wiped
from the drive - never to return.

The prior OS has *no* bearing at this point. Just the fuctionality of
the hardware.

If your BIOS gives the option to boot from your CD drive, if your CD
drive and cables are good, if your hard disk drive and cables are good
and if there is no issues with your controller card - all of this
should work with nothing more than the Windows XP CD and a few changes
in the BIOS and a keyboard/mouse. (Assuming things like the video
card allows you to see the screen, of course.)

You may have another option, however - although I stand by your need
to check the things above (download the Western Digital utilities CD,
burn it and run the full diags.)

Download and creat the 6-boot Floppy diskettes. Put in the Windows
CD, but boot off the floppy diskettes. (You said you have a floppy
drive - this is why I suggest this.)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994

If after using the 6-boot-diskette option, you still cannot get things
installed - there is a hardware failure on the machine - see above...

Admittedly - it would be the first time I would have seen anyone use
the floppy diskettes with Windows XP Media Center Edition - but since
it is just Professional with a few extra features and a few less
features... (So get the professional edition CDs.)

Also - SP1 or SP2 - I am unsure if there are SP3 floppy diskettes.
Although if this is an original STAMPED CD - you'll likely have one or
two and not SP3.
Click to expand...

I finally got it installed after 3 tries, using different tactics. I
took nearly 20 pages of notes so I didn't go down the same dead end
twice.

This version was XP Pro, SP1a, so when finally installed, I also
installed SP3 from a CD I had made when SP3 came out. I use it to
update all my XP machines.

Some info...I did check to see that the XP CD was bootable on another
machine, and it was. I also installed a known good CD-ROM in this P4,
but the P4 still wouldn't boot from CD. I tried new cables, reinstalled
the secondary controller, etc., but nothing worked. Any CD, audio or
otherwise, will invoke the the appropriate Windows autoplay program, and
I can navigate to the CDs files in Windows Explorer. This indicates
that the CD-ROM and cabling is good, but it still won't boot from CD
when set to do so in the BIOS. Sounds like BIOS problem to me.

What I was trying to do was install XP Pro, SP1a, from CD, onto a (used)
Western Digital 160GB, 8MB cache, hard drive. The Gateway P4 already
had Windows 2000 Pro installed on an 80GB drive, and was running fine.

Here's what worked for me:

removed the 80GB drive
connected 160GB drive to primary IDE channel,as single drive
the only CD-ROM was connected to seconday IDE channel as single drive
there is a floppy drive

set BIOS to start from floppy, then hard drive
put Win98SE Startup disk into floppy
started machine
Win98SE Startup floppy installed ramdrive
executed FDISK and created DOS primary partition on 160 GB hard drive
activated DOS partition
executed FORMAT
created large FAT32 partition
put Windows XP Pro CD in CD-ROM
logged onto i386 folder
executed 'winnt'
Windows XP Pro Setup began
told me I didn't have smartdrv.exe, and would take a while
I continued without smartdrv.exe
copied some files, and then took another 2 hours to get to:

Then:
"The MS DOS portion of Setup is complete
Remove floppy A and hit enter.
Windows Setup will continue."

I removed floppy A
Hit Enter
I got, "Invalid boot disk, please insert boot disk into A"

Floppy was still out

I restarted the machine, which was set to boot from hard drive after the
floppy

C came up
C showed:
$LDR$ 245,920
$WIN_NT$ ~BT <DIR>
$WIN_NT$ ~LS <DIR>
COMMAND COM 93,880
NTDETECT COM 47,580
NTLDR 233,632
TXTSETUP SIF 454,830

5 file(s) 1,075,842 bytes
2 dir(s) 130,568,660 MB free

I restarted and went into BIOS
I reset BIOS to boot from IDE
I rebooted

Windows XP Pro Setup began where it left off
allowed me to convert FAT32 to NTFS
the machine restarted a few times
the Windows XP Pro licensing screen came up!

The install finished successfully.

My video was poor. When moving windows across the screen, they moved
really slow, like they were 'stickey'.

My audio was warbly.

I installed SP3, and all problems were solved.

I made an XP Startup floppy.

Machine is working fine, but still won't boot from CD. I could do a
reset on the BIOS via a jumper on the motherboard, but think I'll leave
well enough alone.
 
Boris said:
I finally got it installed after 3 tries, using different tactics. I
took nearly 20 pages of notes so I didn't go down the same dead end
twice.

This version was XP Pro, SP1a, so when finally installed, I also
installed SP3 from a CD I had made when SP3 came out. I use it to
update all my XP machines.

Some info...I did check to see that the XP CD was bootable on another
machine, and it was. I also installed a known good CD-ROM in this P4,
but the P4 still wouldn't boot from CD. I tried new cables,
reinstalled the secondary controller, etc., but nothing worked. Any
CD, audio or otherwise, will invoke the the appropriate Windows
autoplay program, and I can navigate to the CDs files in Windows
Explorer. This indicates that the CD-ROM and cabling is good, but it
still won't boot from CD when set to do so in the BIOS. Sounds like
BIOS problem to me.

What I was trying to do was install XP Pro, SP1a, from CD, onto a
(used) Western Digital 160GB, 8MB cache, hard drive. The Gateway P4
already had Windows 2000 Pro installed on an 80GB drive, and was
running fine.

Here's what worked for me:

removed the 80GB drive
connected 160GB drive to primary IDE channel,as single drive
the only CD-ROM was connected to seconday IDE channel as single drive
there is a floppy drive

set BIOS to start from floppy, then hard drive
put Win98SE Startup disk into floppy
started machine
Win98SE Startup floppy installed ramdrive
executed FDISK and created DOS primary partition on 160 GB hard drive
activated DOS partition
executed FORMAT
created large FAT32 partition
put Windows XP Pro CD in CD-ROM
logged onto i386 folder
executed 'winnt'
Windows XP Pro Setup began
told me I didn't have smartdrv.exe, and would take a while
I continued without smartdrv.exe
copied some files, and then took another 2 hours to get to:

Then:
"The MS DOS portion of Setup is complete
Remove floppy A and hit enter.
Windows Setup will continue."

I removed floppy A
Hit Enter
I got, "Invalid boot disk, please insert boot disk into A"

Floppy was still out

I restarted the machine, which was set to boot from hard drive after
the floppy

C came up
C showed:
$LDR$ 245,920
$WIN_NT$ ~BT <DIR>
$WIN_NT$ ~LS <DIR>
COMMAND COM 93,880
NTDETECT COM 47,580
NTLDR 233,632
TXTSETUP SIF 454,830

5 file(s) 1,075,842 bytes
2 dir(s) 130,568,660 MB free

I restarted and went into BIOS
I reset BIOS to boot from IDE
I rebooted

Windows XP Pro Setup began where it left off
allowed me to convert FAT32 to NTFS
the machine restarted a few times
the Windows XP Pro licensing screen came up!

The install finished successfully.

My video was poor. When moving windows across the screen, they moved
really slow, like they were 'stickey'.

My audio was warbly.

I installed SP3, and all problems were solved.

I made an XP Startup floppy.

Machine is working fine, but still won't boot from CD. I could do a
reset on the BIOS via a jumper on the motherboard, but think I'll
leave well enough alone.
Click to expand...

Wow! Glad you worked it out. Made me think of this, though:

 
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