Windows SP2 question

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Brown
  • Start date Start date
J

John Brown

Just upgraded pc.
Installed Windows XP from my CD.
During on-line installation of SP2 upgrade however have a problem....during
the installation get a message looking for my current configuration for
archiving the files and updating etc...says can't find file winntbbu.dll
....says it should be in d:\windows\system32 but can't find it there...says
ensure the location is correct or change it and insert "Windows System
Files" in the directory you specify....so I ignore that one and same thing
occurs with a few more ***.dll files it can't find.
However, when I look for these files - they are located exactly where its
looking for them eg winntbbu.dll is shown in d:\windows\system32
So failed to load SP2
Any advice would be appreciated.
 
John Brown said:
Just upgraded pc.
Installed Windows XP from my CD.
During on-line installation of SP2 upgrade however have a problem....during
the installation get a message looking for my current configuration for
archiving the files and updating etc...says can't find file winntbbu.dll
...says it should be in d:\windows\system32 but can't find it there...says
ensure the location is correct or change it and insert "Windows System
Files" in the directory you specify....so I ignore that one and same thing
occurs with a few more ***.dll files it can't find.
However, when I look for these files - they are located exactly where its
looking for them eg winntbbu.dll is shown in d:\windows\system32
So failed to load SP2
Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Did you install SP1? It's possible that the SP2 install can't find the
files, as they have not been upgraded to the version that the install
program is looking for. -Dave
 
Dave said:
Did you install SP1? It's possible that the SP2 install can't find the
files, as they have not been upgraded to the version that the install
program is looking for. -Dave
Click to expand...
====================
Yes SP1 is installed.
May be relevant omitted to mention before...when I said I did a search for
the alledged missing files during the failed SP2 upgrade, eg the
winntbbu.dll, in addition to finding it located as expected in
d:\windows\system32, another same name file was located at some long string
address...d:\windows\software
distribution\download\16b2c96aOc41fdfdb43cc228af819...whatever that is I
don't know! :-)
 
John said:
====================
Yes SP1 is installed.
May be relevant omitted to mention before...when I said I did a search for
the alledged missing files during the failed SP2 upgrade, eg the
winntbbu.dll, in addition to finding it located as expected in
d:\windows\system32, another same name file was located at some long string
address...d:\windows\software
distribution\download\16b2c96aOc41fdfdb43cc228af819...whatever that is I
don't know! :-)
Click to expand...

Is there any chance the system has been patched past SP1 ?

In a quick search, the winntbbu.dll file is described as a "billboard"
and apparently contains custom text and graphics. Using a hex editor,
I opened mine up for a look. The contents appear to be what is
displayed while the installer CD is installing Windows. While
the install is running, there is a section of the screen where
Microsoft does their advertising of the new features included in
the OS.

Since the file can be customized, it is possible if your Windows
install came from some corporate environment, that the file was changed.
Or, the fact you have another file like that on disk, implies
it got patched at some point.

Perhaps you could do a "repair install" with the original Windows
CD, then do SP2, then reinstall any advanced versions of Internet
Explorer that you were using. For example, something like
SP2 might have IE6, and would wipe IE7 if that is what you're
currently using. So certain of the Microsoft applications may have
to be upgraded afterwards. WMP might be another tool requiring
reinstallation.

The Service Packs should be available as a separate, redistributable
file. That is handy, if you ever want to prepare a "slipstreamed" installer
CD. I did something like that with my Win2K install, integrating SP4,
and burning a new installer CD (which then is Win2K SP4). That makes
it easier to do a repair install in the future, or in my case,
handle larger disks.

I have a copy of WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe (272MB) on disk
here (saved in case a family member needs it - I don't need it
right now). So you should be able to have the whole thing on disk
if you want.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...be-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a&DisplayLang=en

So the fact that the current file is being ignored, might be
because it has the wrong checksum or whatever.

On my current WinXP SP3 installer CD, the winntbbu.dll file is in the
i386 directory of the CD, with 5000 or so other files.

You could also post in one of the WinXP groups, such as

microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

HTH,
Paul
 
====================
Yes SP1 is installed.
May be relevant omitted to mention before...when I said I did a search for
the alledged missing files during the failed SP2 upgrade, eg the
winntbbu.dll, in addition to finding it located as expected in
d:\windows\system32, another same name file was located at some long string
address...d:\windows\software
distribution\download\16b2c96aOc41fdfdb43cc228af819...whatever that is I
don't know! :-)
Click to expand...
Possibly a bad install app that is looking for the file in "drive c:"
while you have it in d: partition. Similar to my case of installing
the m$ ultimate 2007 where it "can't find the file....".

And also had a problem with the logitech 880 remote app install; at least,
logitech found the problem where the install goes bonkers if one had "moved"
the temp directory location, which some of us did. Changed the temp back
to the default (which was in c:) & the remote software installed.

Don't know who does the installers, but they just don't do good work.
 
Paul said:
Is there any chance the system has been patched past SP1 ?

In a quick search, the winntbbu.dll file is described as a "billboard"
and apparently contains custom text and graphics. Using a hex editor,
I opened mine up for a look. The contents appear to be what is
displayed while the installer CD is installing Windows. While
the install is running, there is a section of the screen where
Microsoft does their advertising of the new features included in
the OS.

Since the file can be customized, it is possible if your Windows
install came from some corporate environment, that the file was changed.
Or, the fact you have another file like that on disk, implies
it got patched at some point.

Perhaps you could do a "repair install" with the original Windows
CD, then do SP2, then reinstall any advanced versions of Internet
Explorer that you were using. For example, something like
SP2 might have IE6, and would wipe IE7 if that is what you're
currently using. So certain of the Microsoft applications may have
to be upgraded afterwards. WMP might be another tool requiring
reinstallation.

The Service Packs should be available as a separate, redistributable
file. That is handy, if you ever want to prepare a "slipstreamed"
installer
CD. I did something like that with my Win2K install, integrating SP4,
and burning a new installer CD (which then is Win2K SP4). That makes
it easier to do a repair install in the future, or in my case,
handle larger disks.

I have a copy of WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe (272MB) on disk
here (saved in case a family member needs it - I don't need it
right now). So you should be able to have the whole thing on disk
if you want.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...be-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a&DisplayLang=en

So the fact that the current file is being ignored, might be
because it has the wrong checksum or whatever.

On my current WinXP SP3 installer CD, the winntbbu.dll file is in the
i386 directory of the CD, with 5000 or so other files.

You could also post in one of the WinXP groups, such as

microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...
==========
TVM for the comprehensive and useful reply.
The more I think about it I believe the problem is to do with...the registry
has become a tad mixed up during installing various software and updates
including Windows as a result of Using D not C to locate Windows.
As it won't be the end of the world to loose what I have loaded so far have
come to the conclusion best bet would be to wipe everything and start again
using a C drive.
What's the best (uncomplicated!) way of doing this - including discarding
all old registry details?
Thanks again.
 
paul_0090 said:
Possibly a bad install app that is looking for the file in "drive c:"
while you have it in d: partition. Similar to my case of installing
the m$ ultimate 2007 where it "can't find the file....".

And also had a problem with the logitech 880 remote app install; at least,
logitech found the problem where the install goes bonkers if one had
"moved"
the temp directory location, which some of us did. Changed the temp back
to the default (which was in c:) & the remote software installed.

Don't know who does the installers, but they just don't do good work.
Click to expand...
===========
I think you are correct Paul...its the D/C mix up could be the key...I'd
added various software before on-line updating the Windows software. Think
I'll wipe everything and start again using C...if can work out how to :-)
 
John said:
TVM for the comprehensive and useful reply.
The more I think about it I believe the problem is to do with...the registry
has become a tad mixed up during installing various software and updates
including Windows as a result of Using D not C to locate Windows.
As it won't be the end of the world to loose what I have loaded so far have
come to the conclusion best bet would be to wipe everything and start again
using a C drive.
What's the best (uncomplicated!) way of doing this - including discarding
all old registry details?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

This site has both Clean Install and Repair Install instructions.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

I do mine in a (complicated!) way, so you don't want that :-)
I install using a partition on my hard drive, which has a copy
of the CD. And surprisingly, it isn't much faster. It only
saves a couple minutes, due to the crappy file caching in the
install process.

The last time I did mine, the total time was about five hours,
and a lot of that was caused by a couple of programs that
take a lot of work to beat into shape. Most of the process
was pretty straight forward, except for those couple programs.

There is at least one mechanism, to transfer settings from the
old OS to the new OS. I looked at one of those, before doing
my clean install, and said "no thanks". All I really wanted,
was for a few simple things to be preserved (like my file
viewer settings, menu changes and a few other nuisance
items of that sort), but the tool Microsoft has, is more
of a complete package deal.

Some people like the concept of doing the five hours
work, and then taking a snapshot. But to be honest with
you, I don't really see that to be much of a saving. The
snapshot would undoubtedly be invalid before too long,
because of the number of applications with security issues,
where you have to move forward to new versions. For example,
you shouldn't use old copies of Java, old browsers or email
tools, even an old copy of Acrobat can be an issue. So once
the security implications are taken into account, the
snapshot idea is full of holes.

Paul
 
Paul said:
This site has both Clean Install and Repair Install instructions.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

I do mine in a (complicated!) way, so you don't want that :-)
I install using a partition on my hard drive, which has a copy
of the CD. And surprisingly, it isn't much faster. It only
saves a couple minutes, due to the crappy file caching in the
install process.

The last time I did mine, the total time was about five hours,
and a lot of that was caused by a couple of programs that
take a lot of work to beat into shape. Most of the process
was pretty straight forward, except for those couple programs.

There is at least one mechanism, to transfer settings from the
old OS to the new OS. I looked at one of those, before doing
my clean install, and said "no thanks". All I really wanted,
was for a few simple things to be preserved (like my file
viewer settings, menu changes and a few other nuisance
items of that sort), but the tool Microsoft has, is more
of a complete package deal.

Some people like the concept of doing the five hours
work, and then taking a snapshot. But to be honest with
you, I don't really see that to be much of a saving. The
snapshot would undoubtedly be invalid before too long,
because of the number of applications with security issues,
where you have to move forward to new versions. For example,
you shouldn't use old copies of Java, old browsers or email
tools, even an old copy of Acrobat can be an issue. So once
the security implications are taken into account, the
snapshot idea is full of holes.

Paul
Click to expand...
=================
Think I'll use the clean install - thanks for that.
Now, at the mo I have two hard drives in place...Windows is on Hard drive 1
and shown as D, and the CD drive is shown as G. If before I do the clean
install I unplug Hard drive 1 and use the other hard drive only will I be
able to designate the new Windows partition ac C? Cheers.
 
John Brown said:
=================
Think I'll use the clean install - thanks for that.
Now, at the mo I have two hard drives in place...Windows is on Hard drive
1 and shown as D, and the CD drive is shown as G. If before I do the clean
install I unplug Hard drive 1 and use the other hard drive only will I be
able to designate the new Windows partition ac C? Cheers.
Click to expand...
======================
So, took all available advice, read the leaflets, disconnected the one hard
drive (the one with the partially loaded Windows), set bios to boot from CD,
inserted XP CD.....Boot from CD/DVD?...Press any key to boot from CD
So I press a key - nothing happens except words..NTLDR is missing, Press
Control+Alt+ Delete to restart. Nothing happens when I press C+A+D ...so
close down...
....so re-connect the first hard drive again and do the same...this time get
message a previous start up attempt was interrupted or power off etc so do I
wish to start in Safe mode, or start windows normally...use up and down keys
to choose...keyboard actions don't have any effect...then gives so many sacs
to decide then windows will start - presumably starting normally...which it
starts to do then loops back into this lot again etc!...so close down...
Hello..Samaritans!!?
 
======================
So, took all available advice, read the leaflets, disconnected the one hard
drive (the one with the partially loaded Windows), set bios to boot from CD,
inserted XP CD.....Boot from CD/DVD?...Press any key to boot from CD
So I press a key - nothing happens except words..NTLDR is missing, Press
Control+Alt+ Delete to restart. Nothing happens when I press C+A+D ...so
close down...
...so re-connect the first hard drive again and do the same...this time get
message a previous start up attempt was interrupted or power off etc so do I
wish to start in Safe mode, or start windows normally...use up and down keys
to choose...keyboard actions don't have any effect...then gives so many sacs
to decide then windows will start - presumably starting normally...which it
starts to do then loops back into this lot again etc!...so close down...
Hello..Samaritans!!?
Click to expand...

Sounds like it doesn't like your cd.
 
John said:
======================
So, took all available advice, read the leaflets, disconnected the one hard
drive (the one with the partially loaded Windows), set bios to boot from CD,
inserted XP CD.....Boot from CD/DVD?...Press any key to boot from CD
So I press a key - nothing happens except words..NTLDR is missing, Press
Control+Alt+ Delete to restart. Nothing happens when I press C+A+D ...so
close down...
...so re-connect the first hard drive again and do the same...this time get
message a previous start up attempt was interrupted or power off etc so do I
wish to start in Safe mode, or start windows normally...use up and down keys
to choose...keyboard actions don't have any effect...then gives so many sacs
to decide then windows will start - presumably starting normally...which it
starts to do then loops back into this lot again etc!...so close down...
Hello..Samaritans!!?
Click to expand...

Verify you can read the CD with that drive.

If you have a spare computer, maybe you could use a tool
which can make a copy of a bootable CD and burn another
one. Then, see if the newly burned disc works in the
problematic drive. Note that the tool used, must be
capable of handling bootable media, and it is not
simply a matter of copying the visible files. The
ISO9660 representation, is capable of storing both
the files and the bootable portion, whatever that is.
So saving the Windows installer CD as an ISO9660, and
then burning another disk with the ISO9660 (say with Nero),
might do it.

My "install from the hard drive method", involves copying
the i386 folder , to my D: drive. Both D: and
C: are FAT32 partitions (so DOS sees both). I use a specially
prepared MSDOS boot floppy, to start the install. From the
DOS prompt, then I execute D:\i386\winnt.exe . Like I said,
this is a complicated method, and it took me practically a whole
day to perfect it. Being a cheapskate, I made my own
MSDOS boot floppy, instead of using bootdisk.com . The
MSDOS floppy uses SMARTDRV, which helps by (not that
intelligently) caching files. Without caching (like by
grabbing any old MSDOS floppy you've got), the install
will run much slower. My base floppy came from another
computer running Win98se.

There are also boot floppies available on the Microsoft site,
but I'm not sure I understand what the purpose of them is.
There is a whole set of them, and I tried this method to
no effect. There are versions for each Service Pack level,
so you must match the floppies to the installer CD version.
There are no floppies for SP3 (which I have). It seems to
be intended to solve the problem, where the computer cannot
boot from CDROM. But the CDROM still must be readable,
because it seems the boot floppies will still be looking for
CDROM:\i386 and the 5000 files in there. So these floppies
help bypass the booting problem, but won't help if the
CDROM laser is dirty.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q310994

I don't expect you're going to appreciate this advice, if
you're in a hurry. Any time you mess with one computer, it
is best to have one or two "rescue computers" handy, fully
equipped, to bail yourself out. I've actually been in
a situation where I managed to break two computers, and then
needed a third to get rolling again :-)

HTH,
Paul
 
Paul said:
Verify you can read the CD with that drive.

If you have a spare computer, maybe you could use a tool
which can make a copy of a bootable CD and burn another
one. Then, see if the newly burned disc works in the
problematic drive. Note that the tool used, must be
capable of handling bootable media, and it is not
simply a matter of copying the visible files. The
ISO9660 representation, is capable of storing both
the files and the bootable portion, whatever that is.
So saving the Windows installer CD as an ISO9660, and
then burning another disk with the ISO9660 (say with Nero),
might do it.

My "install from the hard drive method", involves copying
the i386 folder , to my D: drive. Both D: and
C: are FAT32 partitions (so DOS sees both). I use a specially
prepared MSDOS boot floppy, to start the install. From the
DOS prompt, then I execute D:\i386\winnt.exe . Like I said,
this is a complicated method, and it took me practically a whole
day to perfect it. Being a cheapskate, I made my own
MSDOS boot floppy, instead of using bootdisk.com . The
MSDOS floppy uses SMARTDRV, which helps by (not that
intelligently) caching files. Without caching (like by
grabbing any old MSDOS floppy you've got), the install
will run much slower. My base floppy came from another
computer running Win98se.

There are also boot floppies available on the Microsoft site,
but I'm not sure I understand what the purpose of them is.
There is a whole set of them, and I tried this method to
no effect. There are versions for each Service Pack level,
so you must match the floppies to the installer CD version.
There are no floppies for SP3 (which I have). It seems to
be intended to solve the problem, where the computer cannot
boot from CDROM. But the CDROM still must be readable,
because it seems the boot floppies will still be looking for
CDROM:\i386 and the 5000 files in there. So these floppies
help bypass the booting problem, but won't help if the
CDROM laser is dirty.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q310994

I don't expect you're going to appreciate this advice, if
you're in a hurry. Any time you mess with one computer, it
is best to have one or two "rescue computers" handy, fully
equipped, to bail yourself out. I've actually been in
a situation where I managed to break two computers, and then
needed a third to get rolling again :-)
Click to expand...
===========
Cheers, Paul..thanks for all the info and advice...turned out my prob was
closer to home...the damned USB keyboard wasn't working...fixed this in bios
and now on a roll :-)
Cheers.
 
Paul said:
Verify you can read the CD with that drive.

If you have a spare computer, maybe you could use a tool
which can make a copy of a bootable CD and burn another
one. Then, see if the newly burned disc works in the
problematic drive. Note that the tool used, must be
capable of handling bootable media, and it is not
simply a matter of copying the visible files. The
ISO9660 representation, is capable of storing both
the files and the bootable portion, whatever that is.
So saving the Windows installer CD as an ISO9660, and
then burning another disk with the ISO9660 (say with Nero),
might do it.

My "install from the hard drive method", involves copying
the i386 folder , to my D: drive. Both D: and
C: are FAT32 partitions (so DOS sees both). I use a specially
prepared MSDOS boot floppy, to start the install. From the
DOS prompt, then I execute D:\i386\winnt.exe . Like I said,
this is a complicated method, and it took me practically a whole
day to perfect it. Being a cheapskate, I made my own
MSDOS boot floppy, instead of using bootdisk.com . The
MSDOS floppy uses SMARTDRV, which helps by (not that
intelligently) caching files. Without caching (like by
grabbing any old MSDOS floppy you've got), the install
will run much slower. My base floppy came from another
computer running Win98se.

There are also boot floppies available on the Microsoft site,
but I'm not sure I understand what the purpose of them is.
There is a whole set of them, and I tried this method to
no effect. There are versions for each Service Pack level,
so you must match the floppies to the installer CD version.
There are no floppies for SP3 (which I have). It seems to
be intended to solve the problem, where the computer cannot
boot from CDROM. But the CDROM still must be readable,
because it seems the boot floppies will still be looking for
CDROM:\i386 and the 5000 files in there. So these floppies
help bypass the booting problem, but won't help if the
CDROM laser is dirty.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q310994

I don't expect you're going to appreciate this advice, if
you're in a hurry. Any time you mess with one computer, it
is best to have one or two "rescue computers" handy, fully
equipped, to bail yourself out. I've actually been in
a situation where I managed to break two computers, and then
needed a third to get rolling again :-)
Click to expand...
=================
Well after the euphoria of gaining access to keyboard and formatting the
hard drive (just one SATA drive installed - the other disconnected...and no
floppy connected) and Windows loaded from the CD...all went very
smoothly...seems like the damn thing is now stuck just at the end when I
expected fully loaded....on the page with a nice coloured Windows XP Home
Edition pic and words Please Wait as though its doing something...and the
mouse pointer as an hour glass...
...before I turn off or control alt delete would you expect this part to be
taking so long?...its been in this state for some 2.5 hours now?..one thing
that may be relevant I created the C partition large...3200gb - dunno if
that would cause such a delay? Thanks for any advice.
 
Just upgraded pc.
Installed Windows XP from my CD.
During on-line installation of  SP2 upgrade however have a problem....during
the installation get a message looking for my current configuration for
archiving the files and updating etc...says can't find file winntbbu.dll
...says it should be in d:\windows\system32 but can't find it there...says
ensure the location is correct or change it and insert "Windows System
Files" in the directory you specify....so I ignore that one and same thing
occurs with a few more ***.dll files it can't find.
However, when I look for these files - they are located exactly where its
looking for them eg winntbbu.dll is shown in d:\windows\system32
So failed to load SP2
Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I would download Ububtu Linux, burn it to a CD/DVD and then try
booting the system from the disc, which loads and runs Ubuntu from the
disc and allows the option to install it.

You can test the system by running the software that Ubuntu installs.
I could get wireless web access immediately from the disc install.

If you can use Ubuntu then the problem is definitely software-related
with Windows; otherwise it is a hardware issue - bad memory, HDD, etc.

It is very handy having an Ubuntu boot disc.

Eric,
PC Buyer Beware!
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/
 
John said:
=================
Well after the euphoria of gaining access to keyboard and formatting the
hard drive (just one SATA drive installed - the other disconnected...and no
floppy connected) and Windows loaded from the CD...all went very
smoothly...seems like the damn thing is now stuck just at the end when I
expected fully loaded....on the page with a nice coloured Windows XP Home
Edition pic and words Please Wait as though its doing something...and the
mouse pointer as an hour glass...
..before I turn off or control alt delete would you expect this part to be
taking so long?...its been in this state for some 2.5 hours now?..one thing
that may be relevant I created the C partition large...3200gb - dunno if
that would cause such a delay? Thanks for any advice.
Click to expand...

I don't know how much I can help you here. I'm a home user, so there
are limits as to how many configurations I've tested and installed
to. I did try WinXP SP3 to my 250GB disk, the installer offered to
make one big partition, and it worked. I'm currently using an 80GB
IDE drive as the "real" OS and that works too. No drivers were
needed to complete the initial install.

As I understand it, you're using a GA-EP45-DS3L, which is ICH10.
There are six SATA ports. I'd plug the hard drive into port 0 or
port 1, and not port 4 or 5. (Ports 0/1/2/3 are on one internal
controller, and 4/5 are on the second controller. I'm not sure
whether 4/5 are meant for booting or not. So I'd stick with
0 or 1 to start.)

SATA Port0-3 Native Mode is disabled by default on your board.
That allows a default Microsoft I/O space storage driver to work.
It would allow Win98 to install for example. With Native Mode
disabled, port 4 and 5 might not work (i.e. Win98 would not
see them).

With SATA Port0-3 Native Mode enabled, the storage ports are
moved to PCI space. There is a default PCI space storage
driver available in WinXP SP1. SP1 is also where >137GB disks
are supposed to be supported. I guess it also implies SATA
support.

Now, if you go to the other setting, there is an option to
enable AHCI. AHCI includes hot plugging (adding a data disk
after the system is running - I've tested that on my non-Intel
motherboard and it works for a data disk). Support for NCQ
is not such a big deal on desktops, and that is another
feature. I would expect you wouldn't get very far there
if using that option, as you would have needed to press
F6 and install the Intel driver (AHCI/RAID).

If I was in your shoes, I don't know what I'd try next,
from a purely Windows perspective. Maybe I'd try tapping F8
during startup, and go into Safe Mode, and enable Boot Logging,
and see if I got any extra information there.

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Enable Boot Logging -----------> stores in ntbtlog.txt
Enable VGA Mode
Last Known Good Configuration
Directory Service Restore Mode
Debugging Mode

If the system has been running before, then you probably
know whether it is stable and trouble free otherwise. That
would eliminate some other issue as causing this.

I'm hoping that by following the "clean install" recipe,
that everything from previous installs was blown away. And
it isn't something from that, that is still at work.

I use a Linux LiveCD (like Knoppix from knopper.net), and
with that I can boot into Linux and mount the Windows disk
by just clicking on it. Alternatively, in a pure Windows
environment, maybe you could do some things from the
Recovery Console of the installer CD. That might give
you access to the volume, if you wanted to read ntbtlog
for example.

I expect you'd get much better help in a place like -

microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

indicating

1) motherboard model
2) WinXP installer version
3) Whether drivers were offered via F6 for the disk mode chosen.
4) SATA port operating mode (native/AHCI or whatever)
5) Size of disk, partition size offered by Windows, what you did
6) Clean install or not
7) And details about the "Please Wait" bit.

I can't guess as to why you're stuck at "Please Wait".
Maybe if you were using an original WinXP disk, someone
can come up with an explanation based on that. If I owned
an original WinXP CD, I'd probably be rushing to prepare
a slipstreamed installer CD from it, with at least SP1,
as then more combinations of large disks and hardware
would be covered. Autostreamer and Nlite (nliteos.com)
are examples of slipstreaming tools. Slipstreaming
allows the integration of a downloaded Service Pack,
into an installer CD, preparing a new installer CD.
I used my Win2K CD plus SP4 for Win2K, to burn a new
Windows CD, and I used Autostreamer a couple years ago
to do that. I haven't tried Nlite. If your WIndows CD
is WinXP SP1 or greater, there is much less to worry
about.

http://www.nliteos.com/guide/part1.html

Paul
 
Paul said:
I don't know how much I can help you here. I'm a home user, so there
are limits as to how many configurations I've tested and installed
to. I did try WinXP SP3 to my 250GB disk, the installer offered to
make one big partition, and it worked. I'm currently using an 80GB
IDE drive as the "real" OS and that works too. No drivers were
needed to complete the initial install.

As I understand it, you're using a GA-EP45-DS3L, which is ICH10.
There are six SATA ports. I'd plug the hard drive into port 0 or
port 1, and not port 4 or 5. (Ports 0/1/2/3 are on one internal
controller, and 4/5 are on the second controller. I'm not sure
whether 4/5 are meant for booting or not. So I'd stick with
0 or 1 to start.)

SATA Port0-3 Native Mode is disabled by default on your board.
That allows a default Microsoft I/O space storage driver to work.
It would allow Win98 to install for example. With Native Mode
disabled, port 4 and 5 might not work (i.e. Win98 would not
see them).

With SATA Port0-3 Native Mode enabled, the storage ports are
moved to PCI space. There is a default PCI space storage
driver available in WinXP SP1. SP1 is also where >137GB disks
are supposed to be supported. I guess it also implies SATA
support.

Now, if you go to the other setting, there is an option to
enable AHCI. AHCI includes hot plugging (adding a data disk
after the system is running - I've tested that on my non-Intel
motherboard and it works for a data disk). Support for NCQ
is not such a big deal on desktops, and that is another
feature. I would expect you wouldn't get very far there
if using that option, as you would have needed to press
F6 and install the Intel driver (AHCI/RAID).

If I was in your shoes, I don't know what I'd try next,
from a purely Windows perspective. Maybe I'd try tapping F8
during startup, and go into Safe Mode, and enable Boot Logging,
and see if I got any extra information there.

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Enable Boot Logging -----------> stores in ntbtlog.txt
Enable VGA Mode
Last Known Good Configuration
Directory Service Restore Mode
Debugging Mode

If the system has been running before, then you probably
know whether it is stable and trouble free otherwise. That
would eliminate some other issue as causing this.

I'm hoping that by following the "clean install" recipe,
that everything from previous installs was blown away. And
it isn't something from that, that is still at work.

I use a Linux LiveCD (like Knoppix from knopper.net), and
with that I can boot into Linux and mount the Windows disk
by just clicking on it. Alternatively, in a pure Windows
environment, maybe you could do some things from the
Recovery Console of the installer CD. That might give
you access to the volume, if you wanted to read ntbtlog
for example.

I expect you'd get much better help in a place like -

microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

indicating

1) motherboard model
2) WinXP installer version
3) Whether drivers were offered via F6 for the disk mode chosen.
4) SATA port operating mode (native/AHCI or whatever)
5) Size of disk, partition size offered by Windows, what you did
6) Clean install or not
7) And details about the "Please Wait" bit.

I can't guess as to why you're stuck at "Please Wait".
Maybe if you were using an original WinXP disk, someone
can come up with an explanation based on that. If I owned
an original WinXP CD, I'd probably be rushing to prepare
a slipstreamed installer CD from it, with at least SP1,
as then more combinations of large disks and hardware
would be covered. Autostreamer and Nlite (nliteos.com)
are examples of slipstreaming tools. Slipstreaming
allows the integration of a downloaded Service Pack,
into an installer CD, preparing a new installer CD.
I used my Win2K CD plus SP4 for Win2K, to burn a new
Windows CD, and I used Autostreamer a couple years ago
to do that. I haven't tried Nlite. If your WIndows CD
is WinXP SP1 or greater, there is much less to worry
about.

http://www.nliteos.com/guide/part1.html
Click to expand...
===========
Phew, thanks, Paul...I'll try and absorb all that.
In the meanwhile I'm formatting and currently setting up a clean Windows on
the other HDD now having disconnected the newer larger harddrive because it
was playing up and when tried to load windows again got the worrying message
about Windows is closing down ..you may have a virus or its corrupted better
check it out with CHECKDISC /F etc..so, since not too familiar with doing
that...thought I'd start again with a different hard disc:-)
 
Just in case anyone looks back at this thread...
....and the answer is/was a faulty hard drive...returned, supplier tested it,
agreed it was faulty and sent a replacement....I should claim for a week's
low productivity due to high blood pressure before this discovered/realised!
==================
 
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