Trouble installing Windows on a new HD.

Hey everyone- I am wondering if anybody out there can help me… I have a Compaq Presario 700 (712au) and the hard drive crashed- I was advised by the computer shop man (hahaha) to dump it and buy a new hard drive - I did (more hahahaha) now I come home and try to load up and am having all kinds of misery.

I have a 128mB of RAM and bought a Samsung 40gB 5400rpm 8mB cache HDD

I have read many threads on this page and others and see millions having same problems as me (nothing new I am glad to see) but have tried all suggested solutions and none seem to be right for my problem (hahaha)!

This is the issue. As I install XP (hahaha hysterically now) I get ok through the partitioning and format stages and then into installing but then my computer starts throwing up files it cannot copy from the cd- some can be done with retry some need to be just skipped! Then we get to the fun part, now I am in blue windows advertising efforts (love how they keep telling me how good they are when it wont even work!) of the install process - we get to about 37 mins remaining and then freeze up! After many attempts to gain ground I get mad - kick a few things and then reboot - reformat drive and start all over! This time it is a whole new mass of files cannot copy - ones that didn’t work before are fine now and ones fine before need to be skipped! Then we hit payload- I get through the install and get to a windows screen! I see the hills! I must be close! Now it says needs to reboot and then I think I am all fine! Then the pain starts anew! The reboot brings me to a black screen with the message “Windows Root>/system32/hal.dll. file is missing...please install copy of file

i have tried ....chkdsk /r .... bootcfg /rebuild .... fixboot ..... fixmbr .... process as sugested in other forums and threads..... i have tried using a usb external cd drive to install from.... is it a compatibility issues with new HDD and old RAM??

Now I just cry and quit! Can you help me!

That is weird so many files not reading and then others not reading the next time. You said you tried an external CD drive and it still does it. Is the CD all scratched up or dirty finger prints on it?

Just in case the CPU is overheating while installing (it is working pretty hard at this point), take the side of the case off. Blow out all dust. Put a table fan blowing there to keep it cool while you try one more time. Reformat again and do a fresh install.

Cheers.

If it's a completley new hard drive I can't see it being that. My money is on the CD being dodgy. Is it an original copy of the CD. Or is it a backup copy? How long have you had the CD? Is it scratched/damaged?

disc is damaged cd or dvdrom drive is damaged
bad (illegal copy) disc
see if you can burrow a good disc and try that ,use your legal keys to install
make sure you delete all drive info and reformat again

I have actually run into this too, and what I found is that the drive can be bad. Sometimes older CD drives have problems with slightly scratched CDs. I'm with Kirok - try an external or different CD drive.

it is a fully legal (expensive) copy of xp with sp2 purchased through retail outlet and used once on the previous HDD, it does have some minor marks but not scratched

will try the overheat idea as that sounds good to me and will keep using the usb cd drive to minimise vibration and heat generated!

so here i go yet again to battle with the mighty MScorp and try installing one more time!

can anyone explain what "overclocked" means, this was sugested as possible fault for another thread for very similar problem but i have never heard that before? this could be what i am thinking about my new HDD not being fully ompatible with my existing components??????

With windows, you can use any full install disc as long as you have a legit key.
Borrow your friend's CD and use your legit key. I've done this before on my own systems with a bad CD. (And yes, I purchased my 2 copies of windows! One of my XP cds was bad, so I used the other CD with the first key.)

failed again!

ARRRRGGGGHHHH

thanks guys for all of your sugestions, will find a friend with an xp disk and try that

only next logical step is throw whole thing in the trash eh!

I'm pretty sure you can request that Microsoft send you out a new CD as long as you have a valid copy with key and COI. Seriously sounds to me as though the CD is knackered. It would be either that or the drive and since you've said you've tried an external one, the chances of two broken drives are pretty slim. As for the overclocking thing, if you don't know what it means, then it's not the cause of your problem

Woa, way to appeal to our gender. Please KateyLou, give us some credit. Some of us can resist thought through our loins and would help you regardless. I'm afraid however that I've been beaten to it this time.
Just to clarify, have you had the same problem with the external CD-ROM drive, or is it simply not picking up? I don't want to offend you, but having worked in IT for some time now, I like to get everything clear, just in case something has been overlooked.
BTW I assume you've got some other computer you've been using to post in this thread, you could check the XP cd you've been using for errors on that one perhaps? Just pop it in the CD drive and have a sift through with explorer. If you have any trouble it'll confirm that it's a bad disk and you'll know what's wrong. I LIKE closure on things like that.

No it's not, that HDD is working perfectly, as you can partition and format and you've run chkdsk etc. It is compatible with your system, no problems there. As you can see we're all thinking it's an issue with the CD ROM disk itself, and not the hardware. I had suggested overheating of the CPU just incase but that doesn't seem to be the issue. I am a little concerned with the 128MB of RAM though. That seems very small to run XP. You actually had XP installed on this machine before, on the old failed HDD?

Three things come to mind:
1) XP just won't install and run stable on 128MB of RAM.
2) The RAM is faulty and making the system unstable
3) You have bad CD install disk.

Cheers.

I think its not the fact that she has 128MB of RAM which isn't letting it install coz I once had a Pentium II 366 MHz which had 128 MB of RAM and ran XP fine. Just couldn't keep any AV or other programs running in the background(LOL). It's definitely the CD coz the RAM was fine before, so I don't see where that could give any problems.

I've installed and run systems with less RAM XPsp2. If you could call it running. I work in education you see.

Test your RAM. http://www.memtest.org

A title describing your problem is better than a title describing the motive of people replying to it (hormones).

this is a known issue with laptop cd-rom or dvd-rom drives, that can not read windows xp disks sometimes properly. this is because some directories are 8 or 9 deep in xp install cd-rom. i have had this happened to me. i had to use an external cd-rom drive, which worked fine. you can use an ide-laptop converter to connect a regular cd-rom drive, or connect the cd-rom to the external port of the laptop.

She's already stated that she has used an external CD-Drive which also didn't work

i'm quite aware of that. if it's a laptop "external" cd-rom drive, it won't work. i'm talking about the thin/low profile cd rom drive that slide inside the laptop. you need to connect a regular (desktop type) cd-rom drive and use that.
you will need one of these (for hdd/cd-rom drive).
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=244974&CatId=412

Sorry re-read my post and it may have come off as a bit rude, that wasn't my intention. Anyway, she says up there in one of her posts that she used a USB CD drive so I'd assume it was completely external and not a "slot-in" laptop drive

no problem dude. no offence taken. i'm just trying to clarify some confusing issues. i should have been more clear. laptops have external cd-rom drives too. which causes the same problem. she needs a full size (desktop) cd-rom drive.

thank you all for your help! still no luck here I am afraid! wasn’t trying to appeal on gender basis - was trying to outline the desperation of my situation! even though I use terms such as partition, format, check disk.... I am way outta my league and really am quite not good technically! this is my regular computer which came all set up (hence why i am able to access programs) and the laptop was going to make life a little easier on the road! but I will be rethinking! The genuine xp I am using was never installed on this laptop but on a newer Acer I bought for video editing which is why I am pretty sure it works … I last night tried the 3 disk restore cd set that came with the Compaq (don’t ask why I didn’t before) and it should have set the computer up with xp and all the other goodies but it also failed during the xp installation (everything worked fine up until then) so I think all the most recent posts might be right and it is a RAM or other problem…. Will try today to check xp disk in explorer and maybe even burn myself a back up on a fresh disk although not sure copying a dirty disk will get me far! Next point of call is the local computer shop to buy new RAM (if that can be done for laptops) or paying someone to set this up for me!