OS installs failing

[Husky]

Steps taken:
1 installed XP Pro - not sp2 yet.
2 sound & web, asus machine monitor
3 trend virus protection
4 ATI catalyst
5 pinnacle studio
6 flash8 pro
7 golive cs2
8 photoshop cs2
9 videowave 7 used it after installation
10 finished 1st day of installs and ran a few things
like agent news reader, some minor programs, desktop changer, just installed, but didn't run other things.
things ran fine, booted fine today

11 installed hp all-in-one printer software
12 office 2003
13 quicken ran and updated
14 installed Nero 6 OEM rebooted and jammed at a black screen.

now on a modified safe boot setting. Not real sure what isn't running. Tray icons only show virus and my email popfile spam sorter.

Everything above has been running for nearly a year maybe 2 without a hitch. For the past 2 weeks, it's been re format and reinstall every other day.
I've been checking the event viewer, but it doesn't seem to show anythingthat really stands out.

I'm expecting In CD, or something to do with the ATI, or videowave to be the source of the problem.

Also SP2 has been installed and running for a year or 2. I just haven't gotten to that point today. This hang at the black screen aborted moving on till I can get it to boot normally..


Looking for experts on next steps using selective boot..
My current selective startup is
system.ini

load startup items

win.ini all except ipswitch. I ran WS FTP last night

boot.ini
safe boot & boot log

services all except
secondary logon ?????????
universal P&P
uninterruptible power supply don't even own one...
volume shadow copy this popped up as an error in the event log. turning this one back on
No idea what the actual problem is.
any help.. Not a complete novice, but this one has me stumped. Seems to be something in my software re-installs. I've wiped every CD before running them. Last install I used the OLD slow CD recorder that I installed everything with ages ago. That didn't stop the problem.
It would appear to be something from the 2nd day of installs, but nothingwas installed that hasn't been running for 2 years.


Could office 2003 be the problem ? I had o2000 when I upgraded to 2003, but 2003's been running for a long while also.

 

[Sharon F]

Steps taken:
1 installed XP Pro - not sp2 yet.
2 sound & web, asus machine monitor
3 trend virus protection
4 ATI catalyst
5 pinnacle studio
6 flash8 pro
7 golive cs2
8 photoshop cs2
9 videowave 7 used it after installation
10 finished 1st day of installs and ran a few things
like agent news reader, some minor programs, desktop changer, just installed, but didn't run other things.
things ran fine, booted fine today

11 installed hp all-in-one printer software
12 office 2003
13 quicken ran and updated
14 installed Nero 6 OEM rebooted and jammed at a black screen.

now on a modified safe boot setting. Not real sure what isn't running. Tray icons only show virus and my email popfile spam sorter.

Everything above has been running for nearly a year maybe 2 without a hitch. For the past 2 weeks, it's been re format and reinstall every other day.
I've been checking the event viewer, but it doesn't seem to show anything that really stands out.

I'm expecting In CD, or something to do with the ATI, or videowave to be the source of the problem.

Also SP2 has been installed and running for a year or 2. I just haven't gotten to that point today. This hang at the black screen aborted moving on till I can get it to boot normally..


Looking for experts on next steps using selective boot..
My current selective startup is
system.ini

load startup items

win.ini all except ipswitch. I ran WS FTP last night

boot.ini
safe boot & boot log

services all except
secondary logon ?????????
universal P&P
uninterruptible power supply don't even own one...
volume shadow copy this popped up as an error in the event log. turning this one back on
No idea what the actual problem is.
any help.. Not a complete novice, but this one has me stumped. Seems to be something in my software re-installs. I've wiped every CD before running them. Last install I used the OLD slow CD recorder that I installed everything with ages ago. That didn't stop the problem.
It would appear to be something from the 2nd day of installs, but nothing was installed that hasn't been running for 2 years.


Could office 2003 be the problem ? I had o2000 when I upgraded to 2003, but 2003's been running for a long while also.

I know you've done a lot of work already but... When it's necessary to
rebuild a system from scratch, I start with the operating system and basic
hardware. Next is Service Packs and hotfixes. Restart a couple of times to
let everything "settle in."

At this point, I install imaging software and make an image of the
operating system. This particular image is labeled and then put away in a
safe place. It's my "ground zero" image - one I can use if I ever need to
"unwind" XP to basics and start over. Benefit: can skip the install and
update Windows steps.

Then I start adding in hardware devices and their drivers - one at a time.
I make a system restore point before each. And another image (these are
more disposable than the "ground zero" image). Getting Windows and hardware
installed well is crucial to long term system stability. It's your
"foundation" to everything (programs) that comes later. Once all hardware,
drivers and related software are in, create, label and store another image
- this one is your "base system" image.

Now start installing programs (don't forget to do their updates as you go).
System Restore/image after each installation. A restart after each install
- I know that XP is not supposed to need this but still do it. Test run the
app a few times. Add next program.

Restore data in there somewhere - right after base build is finished or as
you're adding software. May want to make a "disk 3" for the saved images
collection. You'll add a weekly image (or whatever interval works best for
yofor imaging that you select) as time goes by. These images are more
temporary in nature. I keep 3-5 of the most recent images and toss the
older ones (still keeping those 3 "base" images).

I've been using this "formula" or a loose version of it for a long time.
Most of my installations last years unless I do something really stupid to
mess them up. And yes, I do dumb things or get messed up with some beta
program that I'm trying. When that happens, I pull my most recent image
before the problem started and restore the system. It takes my imaging
software about 20 minutes (counting restarts) to restore the system before
I mucked up - no reinstalls necessary.

Personally I use True Image from Acronis for imaging the system but there
are many good programs available that can do the same thing. I chose
Acronis because it's easy to use, fast and it works well with my hardware.

PS: I don't know what went wrong where during your saga. From your recount,
the install of Nero OEM was where the trouble began. This installs
services, changes some base XP service (imapi for cd burning) and sometimes
the OEM versions will only work with the drives that they shipped with.
Personally, I would start over to get SP2 in earlier. Everything will be
working off of that eventually so why not put it in earlier? But that's
just my opinion...

You might want to wait to see what others have to say. They may have some
suggestions to help you salvage what you have so far.

 

[Husky]

Personally I use True Image from Acronis for imaging the system but there
are many good programs available that can do the same thing. I chose
Acronis because it's easy to use, fast and it works well with my hardware.

Good 2 know!

PS: I don't know what went wrong where during your saga. From your recount,
the install of Nero OEM was where the trouble began. This installs
services, changes some base XP service (imapi for cd burning) and sometimes
the OEM versions will only work with the drives that they shipped with.
Personally, I would start over to get SP2 in earlier. Everything will be
working off of that eventually so why not put it in earlier? But that's
just my opinion...

You might want to wait to see what others have to say. They may have some
suggestions to help you salvage what you have so far.

I got it back to running normally by retrying the 'reboot from last working' option. I'd tried it b4 and it failed. went to safe, figured what the heck, I'm looking at another re-format and reinstall. Tried thatagain and it took. Go figure.
Imaging isn't something I'd ever seen a need for. I kept things running smoothly or at least smooth enough that I didn't have to start from scratch too often.

Guess imaging is my next step. Everything's back to normal. No idea why.

 

[Sharon F]

Guess imaging is my next step. Everything's back to normal. No idea why.

While it's always nice to know why, it's not always necessary as "back to
normal" is a good thing!

 

[Husky]

While it's always nice to know why, it's not always necessary as "back to
normal" is a good thing!

I grabbed that imaging program, and quit at the 7th CD. 700 megs * 7 and it wanted to archive 152 gigs. Seems to me the thing needed to tell me how many CD's it was going to use b4 starting.

I had 50 3 1/4's for win 3.1. I said never again. It was telling me another 7 hours to back things up. At my 6th CD, I had serious doubts about how it's going to do a restore in under 20 minutes.
Even with another 50 pack sitting here, I'm figuring I'd need 5 more 50 packs just for the backup.

I suspect I have a Sata drive fixing to die. Sounded like it was washing rocks at the end of yesterday. That would explain fouled installs, and slow operation..

I figured if the program was smart enough, it'd do a pick and choose likethe documents & settings folder, windows, and the registry and maybe letme throw some extras in.
It's always been the loudest thing in the room.

 

[Sharon F]

I grabbed that imaging program, and quit at the 7th CD. 700 megs * 7 and it wanted to archive 152 gigs. Seems to me the thing needed to tell me how many CD's it was going to use b4 starting.

I had 50 3 1/4's for win 3.1. I said never again. It was telling me another 7 hours to back things up. At my 6th CD, I had serious doubts about how it's going to do a restore in under 20 minutes.
Even with another 50 pack sitting here, I'm figuring I'd need 5 more 50 packs just for the backup.

I suspect I have a Sata drive fixing to die. Sounded like it was washing rocks at the end of yesterday. That would explain fouled installs, and slow operation..

I figured if the program was smart enough, it'd do a pick and choose like the documents & settings folder, windows, and the registry and maybe let me throw some extras in.
It's always been the loudest thing in the room.

Ummm, 50+ CDs? While it takes several CDs to equal the storage of a single
DVD (what I use), that's still a LOT of disks. I would have backed out of
that too! Maybe be a little more selective in what you choose to image?

You can only select partitions with imaging programs. With backup programs,
you can selectively choose folders. Two different programs with very
similar purposes but the scope is very different.

I keep Windows and my main programs on C:. I put all extra programs and
data on other partitions. (My Documents, along with My Pictures and My
Music, are redirected to another partition as well.) By doing this, I
manage to keep the Windows partition down to ~7GB. With compression (I use
the default settings), that fits nicely on one single layered DVD.

I still use good old copy/paste for data backups.

 

[Husky]

Ummm, 50+ CDs? While it takes several CDs to equal the storage of a single
DVD (what I use), that's still a LOT of disks. I would have backed out of
that too! Maybe be a little more selective in what you choose to image?

I didn't see anywhere that it could use a DVD. I have the dual layer DVD's now 9 gigs each. Which is why I used the CD's..

You can only select partitions with imaging programs. With backup programs,
you can selectively choose folders. Two different programs with very
similar purposes but the scope is very different.

I went with default settings.

I keep Windows and my main programs on C:. I put all extra programs and
data on other partitions. (My Documents, along with My Pictures and My

I once used multiple partitions, win 3.1 days. Really didn't see any advantages.

Music, are redirected to another partition as well.) By doing this, I
manage to keep the Windows partition down to ~7GB. With compression (I use
the default settings), that fits nicely on one single layered DVD.

But then I've always kept the important 'cut&paste' stuff on a completelyseparate drive.
I've always figured if it's just a partition on the same drive, there's little to no protection from damage, virus, data corruption etc.. But a completely separate drive provides a definite physical separation for security of important stuff.
Always stayed with just the one drive 1 system since the late70's.

I still use good old copy/paste for data backups.

You don't have a lot of trouble locating stuff on other partitions ? ie: I want to install adobe xxx. My old partitions had drive letters. like C:, D;, E;, - Z:, can I have my program files on D: and not have installation problems ?

I'm just figuring with 152 gigs, and the stability of this OS, I'll be reformatting and reinstalling again sometime. May try this multiple partition stuff and imaging. one single layered DVD ? Mine show 4.7 gigs.you can cram 7 gigs into 4.7 ?
Have you ever even tried to restore from something like that ?

 

[Sharon F]

I didn't see anywhere that it could use a DVD. I have the dual layer DVD's now 9 gigs each. Which is why I used the CD's..

You said that you grabbed "that program." I assumed that you mean Acronis
True Image. It is capable of imaging to a DVD burning drive. I don't have
to do anything extra for this to occur. I just select that drive as the
destination for the image. Before buying Acronis, I tried several imaging
programs to be sure that they worked with my burner.

I don't have a fancy dual layered burner. Just a basic DVD+R. The imaging
program is compressed with the last image weighing in just over 3.5 GB.
NOTE: The location of the pagefile is recorded. It is recreated during the
restore process. Not writing it to DVD takes out a big chunk (1.5 GB) right
off the top. Some imaging programs will record that file in its entirety
instead of doing it this way.

I once used multiple partitions, win 3.1 days. Really didn't see any advantages.

The biggest advantage is keeping that system image size down. My opinion:
Other than the consideration for image size, to run with multiple
partitions or not is a matter of personal choices.

But then I've always kept the important 'cut&paste' stuff on a completely
separate drive. I've always figured if it's just a partition on the same
drive, there's little to no protection from damage, virus, data
corruption etc.. But a completely separate drive provides a definite
physical separation for security of important stuff. Always stayed with
just the one drive 1 system since the late70's.

Have a second internal drive that's used to keep "convenience copies" of
backups or whatever. If first drive fails, yeah, there's a chance that one
will bite the dust but there's also a chance that it will continue to
operate. However, it's not the only place I backup files so if it does die,
I'm not "stuck." Also use an external drive and DVDs to augment backups and
images.

You don't have a lot of trouble locating stuff on other partitions ? ie:
I want to install adobe xxx. My old partitions had drive letters. like
C:, D;, E;, - Z:, can I have my program files on D: and not have
installation problems ?

I'm just figuring with 152 gigs, and the stability of this OS, I'll be
reformatting and reinstalling again sometime. May try this multiple
partition stuff and imaging. one single layered DVD ? Mine show 4.7
gigs. you can cram 7 gigs into 4.7 ? Have you ever even tried to restore
from something like that ?

No trouble. Second partition of first drive (D. Added a folder named
"Program Files." When running a software install, I choose "Custom." When
the screen appears for "where" to install. I click in the text box and
replace C: with D:. This method takes a few extra clicks but it works for
me. At one time, many programs assumed C: but that's less common nowadays.
And I have not run into any programs that balk at running from D:.

And yes, I've had to restore my system drive. I beta test -usually
multi-booting so main setup does not get goofed up but with testing,
anything can happen and usually does.

I grab the Acronis image DVD. Change BIOS to boot from CD. Acronis
environment loads. Choose partition to restore. When process completes,
reboot (usually stop off in BIOS to return boot order to hard drive first)
and I'm back in business within no time.

I'm not saying "do it this way." What I'm saying is that there are options.
Use them to your advantage in a combination that works best for you.

I got tired of installing everything from scratch when the system went
kablooey. I would rather spend my weekend doing something else. Also, using
NTFS here. A great file system - robust and efficient. BUT when something
goes wrong with it, it's usually "very bad" and there's not much in the way
of repair tools. Have never faced having to restore from this kind of
problem but could if the situation arose.

 

[Husky]

Have a second internal drive that's used to keep "convenience copies" of
backups or whatever. If first drive fails, yeah, there's a chance that one
will bite the dust but there's also a chance that it will continue to
operate. However, it's not the only place I backup files so if it does die,
I'm not "stuck." Also use an external drive and DVDs to augment backups and
images.

You're one up on me. I've heard about imaging, but never used it. Ran a Ghost copy awhile back, and got completely frustrated with it as with this acronis. But you need advance preparation like this multiple partition stuff so it doesn't cost $200.00 for 1 backup. I figure that's about how much 5 50 pak's of CD's or 2 paks of DVD's will be barring failures. I can see that now. I've had DVD failures way too often to relyon them for really important stuff.
I probably will try imaging once thing fail again, and I have to start from scratch again..

There was something odd call it an alert about when things went south this time.

in the boot up, the screen long b4 you get to the windows OS, the setup screen that shows all the things attached, drives, USB's, etc..
It's a semi color screen on a black background with white lettering, and smoke color lettering.
but the white lettering on the 1st page had a distinct red hue to it. Nowthat things are back to norm, the lettering's back to white and normal.

No trouble. Second partition of first drive (D. Added a folder named
"Program Files." When running a software install, I choose "Custom." When
the screen appears for "where" to install. I click in the text box and
replace C: with D:. This method takes a few extra clicks but it works for
me. At one time, many programs assumed C: but that's less common nowadays.
And I have not run into any programs that balk at running from D:.

So some do....

And yes, I've had to restore my system drive. I beta test -usually
multi-booting so main setup does not get goofed up but with testing,
anything can happen and usually does.

well I'll find out sometime down the road. Not going to screw things up just to try another way. Or can you now partition a drive that's already set with one partition without screwing things up ? There's only 8 megs available un partitioned on this c: drive.

I got tired of installing everything from scratch when the system went
kablooey. I would rather spend my weekend doing something else. Also, using
NTFS here. A great file system - robust and efficient. BUT when something

I found that if I had a backup of the registry, I could reinstall the OS,SP2, and overwrite the registry with the backup. Trouble was I needed something to make a backup of the registry every time it was changed, andlost interest in finding something to do that.

Imaging in my future I guess. See if that makes things any more stable.

 

[Sharon F]

There was something odd call it an alert about when things went south
this time.

in the boot up, the screen long b4 you get to the windows OS, the setup
screen that shows all the things attached, drives, USB's, etc.. It's a
semi color screen on a black background with white lettering, and smoke
color lettering. but the white lettering on the 1st page had a distinct
red hue to it. Now that things are back to norm, the lettering's back to
white and normal.

Most commonly a red tinge to the monitor means that it is failing. But it
can happen because of other things as well: a loose connection, a bent or
missing pin on one the connectors. Or maybe the color adjustment was just
out of whack. Since it's returned to normal, I would set this on the back
burner.

well I'll find out sometime down the road. Not going to screw things up
just to try another way. Or can you now partition a drive that's already
set with one partition without screwing things up ? There's only 8 megs
available un partitioned on this c: drive.

Well, you were talking about reinstalling frequently. Just before a clean
install, that's a good time to divide up partitions. If you want to adjust
the size of existing partitions once Windows is installed, you'll need
third party partition software to accomplish that.

Imaging in my future I guess. See if that makes things any more stable.

I wouldn't say that imaging (or backup) makes things more stable. It does
offer a huge amount of convenience and time savings though.

Well, I hope this current installation lasts a long time for you. Good luck
with it!

 

[Husky]

Most commonly a red tinge to the monitor means that it is failing. But it
can happen because of other things as well: a loose connection, a bent or
missing pin on one the connectors. Or maybe the color adjustment was just
out of whack. Since it's returned to normal, I would set this on the back
burner.

That was my 1st thought also until the OS went south shortly after. As for the monitor, it's working just fine now and up to the failures. The red tint was only on ONE set of letters the pure white ones. The smoke ones on the second and the white on the second page were distinct red andsmoke. Oddest thing I'd ever seen.