Please help...Windows XP SP3 setup hangs/freezes at 34/35 minutes

i am trying to install windows xp service pack 3 onto my Acer Extensa 5510 notebook laptop for the last 2 weeks...but seem to fail every time. There was an 80gb hard drive in it already but the windows on that kept freezing at the same point, every time it loaded to a state where i couldnt even move the mouse, was working perfectly fine before. So i decided to install a brand new 200gb hard drive so i can store more of my work in it. Once installed, i inserted the windows xp sp3 disk, and formatted the hard drive to ntfs (quick) and then the files started to copy, once that was done, it restarted and the actual installation part started. it went from 39 minutes down to 35 minutes and froze on the installing devices part. i thought it was a common error so i restarted the setup. this time it went to 34 minutes and froze. i restarted setup again, and it went all the way down to 8 minutes and froze. i restarted the setup one more time, and it got stuck on 35 minutes again. for the rest of the day, most of the times it would get stuck on 34/35 minutes and either froze or restarted the laptop for no reason. Only once, it went down to 23 minutes and froze. only 2 out of 30 tries went past the install devices section.

In the setupapi.log file, it always said a different .inf file was causing a problem each time i restarted the setup. i think one of them was a cpu.inf file...and another was to do with the audio. i didnt bother deleting the cpu.inf one because i found out that it was the drivers for the cpu and was an important system file for the setup.


Inserted windows vista install disk and started the setup, it gets stuck at the green bar after the "windows is loading files" bit. this happened with all 3 of the vista install disks i have and also same thing happened with the recovery disk provided with the laptop (also vista).


Inserted windows 7 install disk and started the setup, and it got stuck at "expanding windows files" at 54%. When i restarted and tried the setup again, it hanged at the "Starting Windows" screen with the logo. On trying a third time, it got stuck at 68%, also at "expanding windows files".

All the windows install disks are genuine. No copies.


Full Specifications are:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5500 (64 bit)
(1.66ghz, 667mhz FSB, 2mb L2 Cache)
15.4" WXGA Acer CrystalBrite LCD (16ms)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
DVD +/- RW drive
200gb Fujitsu Hard Drive SATA
1gb DDR2 RAM, (2x 512mb sticks)
Built in 802.11 a/b/g wireless Lan


someone please help me out...really need to get coursework done this holiday and hate going local library as i only get one hour max there to use a computer (yes i shouldnt have decided to do it at the last minute...i learnt my lesson)

your help will be much appreciated and will remember you always as the one who helped fix my laptop.

The options i have in bios are...

Page 1 (Information) shows information about the notebook, cpu type, cpy speed, hdd model name, hdd serial number, atapi serial number, BIOS version, VGA BIOS version, serial number, Asset Tag Number, Product Name, Manufacturer Name, UUID Number.

None of these values can be changed.

Page 2 (Main) shows System Time, System Date, System Memory (640kb), Extended Memory (1023mb), Video Memory (64mb), Quiet Boot (Disabled), Power on display (Auto), Network Boot (Disabled), F12 Boot Menu (Enabled), D2D Recovery (Disabled).

System Time and Date have been checked twice and are correct. System Memory and Extended Memory can not be changed. Video Memory can be changed to 128mb or MaxDVMT. Quiet Boot can be enabled. Power on display can be changed to "Both". Network Boot can be enabled. F12 boot menu can be disabled. D2D Recovery can be enabled.

Page 3 (Advanced) shows Infrared and i have it Disabled. I can not enable it, the sub menu does not open.

Page 4 (Security) shows Supervisor Password, User Password and HDD Password are all clear. I can add a supervisor password or HDD password, but not a user password.

Page 5 (Boot) shows the boot order which is in this order: HDD, DVD, USB FDD, Network Boot, USB HDD, USB Key, USB CDROM.

Page 6 (Exit) allows me to exit saving changes, exit discharging changes, load setup defaults, discard change or save changes.


Are there any values i should change?

New Information:

there is also a bluetooth switch at the front, but it does not light up, so i am guessing a bluetooth module was not installed.

the BIOS version installed is 3.50, the latest version released is 3.60 but i can not update it because i need windows up and running to update it.

ram diags (Memtest86) show there is nothing wrong with the ram and i also tried with other ram sticks but the same thing happens during setup.

I checked the hard drive for bad sectors and there werent any. I also tried setup with another hard drive and same thing happened during setup where it froze or restarted.

I also tried setup with another processor (same model) and still same thing happened.


On the other hand, i took the hard drive out of my old pentium 2 laptop which had windows xp sp3 installed, put it into this laptop and it loaded windows but after 5 seconds it froze (note: the drivers had not started to install yet). this happened each time i restarted. I then booted into safe mode and it worked flawlessly without any problems. About 50 drivers installed and was working perfectly. But then i restart and try booting into windows again, it froze. (i also have another hard drive with windows 7 ultimate 32bit installed, put this into the laptop, booted to windows and it froze, booted to safe mode and it worked perfectly.)

Any ideas why this is happening?

Thanks again for helping