Still having problems loading XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Seagull
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Seagull

I've asked this question before and got some helpful
advice. I'm having problems loading XP onto my PC. I've
tried both the upgrade from Win 98 and the clean
install route and the same problem happens both ways.
With the clean install route I've used fdisk and then let
XP format the drive; Ive also tried both file systems.

In each and every installation everything seems to be
going ok until the setup gets to Installing
Network.... then the machine reboots and setup starts
again from installing Devices and so it goes just like
Groundhog day. I left it running over night and it was
still merrily doing its thing the next morning.

In an act of desperation I upgraded the BIOS but to no
avail. Everything in the machine has been disconnected
apart from the cd rom, the hard drive, and the graphics
card. Should I consider changing anything else; and if so,
what?

According to the compatibility checker my machine should
be able to run XP... but I can't even get it to load.
What is happening?

Any help and suggestions gratefully recieved.
 
How does one use FDisk before installing xp,xp needs to detect a forme
version of windows before it installs itself,with FDisk the hd is reformated
hence,no detectable version.Xp reformats the hd anyway,why use it,try installin
xp w/o FDisk,if it stops do an immediate retry of installation.
 
You don't use FDisk, you begin the XP install by booting the
XP CD, it will offer the choice to install and then you can
partition and format to do a clean install.


| How does one use FDisk before installing xp,xp needs to
detect a former
| version of windows before it installs itself,with FDisk
the hd is reformated,
| hence,no detectable version.Xp reformats the hd
anyway,why use it,try installing
| xp w/o FDisk,if it stops do an immediate retry of
installation.
 
In
Andrew E said:
How does one use FDisk before installing xp
Click to expand...


You don't normally. FDisk is an old, windows 9x-era tool, and can
not, for example, create an NTFS partition. To install XP, just
boot from the Windows XP CD and follow the prompts for a clean
installation. It will do the format for you.

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

xp needs to detect a
former version of windows before it installs itself
Click to expand...


Are you trying to install an upgrade version? No it's not correct
that xp needs to detect a former version of windows before it
installs itself. The requirement to use an upgrade version is to
*own* a previous qualifying version's installation CD (not an OEM
restore CD), not to have it installed. When setup doesn't find a
previous qualifying version installed, it will prompt you to
insert its CD as proof of ownership. Just insert the previous
version's CD, and follow the prompts. Everything proceeds quite
normally and quite legitimately.
 
Andrew E said:
How does one use FDisk before installing xp,xp needs to detect a former
version of windows before it installs itself,with FDisk the hd is reformated,
hence,no detectable version.Xp reformats the hd anyway,why use it,try installing
xp w/o FDisk,if it stops do an immediate retry of installation.
Click to expand...

The upgrade doesn't need to detect the previous version on the drive. You
can do a clean install, and when it detects a clean drive, it will ask for a
qualifying product, and you insert the CD for whatever you're upgrading
from. This has been possible since 95, at least.
 
Guys, don't get hung up on fdisk. The point is I've tried
everything I can think of. I'm not a complete muppet with
computers neither am I a technical expert. I know the
principles of fault finding.

I must have tried loading XP 30 or more times over the
last few weeks using all possible combinations of upgrade
and clean intall with and without fdisk.

I just wondered if I'd got to the stage of hardware
upgrade?
 
Seagull said:
Guys, don't get hung up on fdisk. The point is I've tried
everything I can think of. I'm not a complete muppet with
computers neither am I a technical expert. I know the
principles of fault finding.

I must have tried loading XP 30 or more times over the
last few weeks using all possible combinations of upgrade
and clean intall with and without fdisk.

I just wondered if I'd got to the stage of hardware
upgrade?
Click to expand...

It's amazing how fast one of these threads can drift away from the original
question, isn't it?

I think what happens is that when someone gives what another person
considers "wrong" information, they want to correct it, not just for the
original poster, but also for anyone else who reads the thread,

But back to your original problem. You said that you removed most of the
hardware. While you're at it, have you gone into the BIOS and turned off any
onboard stuff like sound or network?

If that's been done, then I'd suspect memory. Not necessarily that it's bad,
but you might have one stick that just isn't compatible with the other
memory, or with the motherboard.

Whittle the memory down to one stick at a time and see how that works.
 
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