XP will not load in new PC

[mickk44]

Christmas day, yay.
Hi all, i hope someone can help me as i bought a customer returned dell dimension xps 720.
It has no operating system with it so i tried to load it.
After setting boot device i put the windows xp pro disc in and it starts the cycle.
It gets as far as windows is starting and then blue screen saying it shut down as not to cause damage.
0x0000007b at the beginning of stop code.

I tried another hdd with windows on it from another xps pc and gets as far as the windows black bit , about 5 seconds and it reboots.
I took all the memory out and installed 1 at a time in case it was a faulty stick.

The bios sees both cd devices and the hdd and everything looks normal.
I am not a technician but have been able to sort out many problems over the years but not this one.
I have never had a pc desktop that just had sata stuff, just ide.
Please take pity on me for not being able to afford a new pc.And not knowing what the hell i am doing.
Thanks in advance.

 

[mailpup]

You probably need to install the SATA/RAID drivers at the F6 prompt near the beginning of Windows setup. However, you probably don't have the required floppy drive. In that case you will have to make a slipstream disk which combines the Windows XP CD with the needed SATA controller drivers.

Do a Google search for the procedure for making the slipstream disk. You will have to go to Dell's website to download the appropriate drivers.

 

[mickk44]

Floppy

Thanks but i do have a floppy drive, could you tell me what drivers i would need.
I suppose i download them on another pc and put floppy disc in when prompted.
Cheers.

 

[gbhall]

Download sata drivers for the correct PC from the Dell site. Install them on the floppy disk as per the instructions that come with the driver.

The boot from the install CD, and very early on, it stops and gives you the opportunity to press F6 'install driver software; (I'm a bit vague on the actual wording, but the inference is clear, just follow the onscreen instructions.

 

[mickk44]

Thanks but i do not understand why it will not boot from the ide hdd i installed, surely no extra drivers are needed for this?

 

[gbhall]

This is not quite clear. Confirm for me. First the original drive is SATA, yes? Then it needs SATA drivers early in XP setup. Second drive (IDE) had nothing to do with the PC originally, yes? Then the copy on that drive will never work, because none of the drivers for XP have anything to do with this motherboard, ok. I notice you say they were both XPS pc. Doesn't matter, they may even be the same motherboard, but quite clearly one was using IDE and yours is presumably using SATA (or else the XP is tied to the board as an OEM copy of the OS often is).

Get the right drivers by entering your service tag on the Dell support site. It will know exactly what is in your PC and direct you to all the necessary drivers. Make sure you get them all, you will need them all.....

Also you may want to run in SATA Mode, not AHCI Mode. Check the BIOS to see what options you have for the hard drive.

Dont worry, although it is Xmas, not all of us are comatose yet.....best wishes.

 

[mickk44]

Right i think i get it now and thanks for a great reply.
So it looks like i need a set up/driver disc for my specific pc????
I have been on dells site for my model but under sata it only gives the driver for the drive, my drives work.
Maybe i need a mb driver disc BUT i cannot grasp that it has a bios functioning.
I thought all the basic drivers were incorporated.

I am so wanting to sort this out now but its christmas.
Gonna inebriate myself some more dam it.

 

[mickk44]

in the bios it has floppy and the option of using a usb port for the function of driver installation.
I need the discs that came with the pc originally i think.
Anyone got one?

 

[gbhall]

I don't know if your question re m/b driver disc and bios is retorical or you really would like to know, so here goes....

There are a fairly limited number of 'languages' that hard disks and CD/DVD drives, USB and network ports understand - maybe 50-60. But there are tens of thousands of different motherboards and motherboard chips that need to talk to that hardware and ports, so a translation is always required. That is the function of the bios. Bios's are updatable, but you rarely need to do that, once you have the latest version from the Dell site for your hardware you are pretty well set for the life of your PC.

Meanwhile going further up from the motherboard.....There are again only a limited number of Operating Systems that need to talk to your motherboard - perhaps twenty or so. But again, a translation is needed between the limited number of Operating System codes and tens of thousands of motherboards, and this is the purpose of the motherboard drivers. Once you have a set of motherboard drivers that do all you need, you rarely need to upgrade them.

Then finally, to talk between your few possible operating systems and the hundreds of thousands of possible different devices you might attach to your PC (imagine how many different printers there are alone), every device needs a driver specific to both the device and the Operating System. These need constant updated to remove bugs and improve the code in general. Who would want to be a device driver programmer? An endless task.

If you think a little deeply about all this, you might wonder how Windows, for example, can ever install and work at all the first time, before you have a chance to update all the device drivers.

The answer lies in a rather large database of drivers that come already with Windows, and that is usually enough common code to get the PC up and running. For example, every hard drive understands a basic set of instructions, every video card has a basic VGA mode it will work in. You then need to install all the proper drivers which will unlock all the special modes and features of the actual devices. To cover the many cases where Windows cannot run from the off (like SATA drivers under Windows XP !!), there is a way to get those drivers installed before the main part of Windows install even gets under way. That is where you are now....

Hope this helps.

 

[raybay]

You can get ALL the drivers you need from the Dell site for your Service Tag number. Start with the Chipset. Then the BIOS if not already done.
You do not need the floppy. You can use a usb flash drive in most cases with recent Dells.
Dell no longer supplies the disk set routinely after the computer ages a bit...
However, you are entitled to one disk set for each Service Tag. You can always call Dell and ask for it. If it was not claimed by the previous user, they will send you the OS and the set of blue and whites.
However, if they restricted your access as part of a low purchase price, this cannot happen.... yet it is worth the call. Microsoft restricts Dell from releasing more than one extra set.

 

[Tedster]

Thanks but i do not understand why it will not boot from the ide hdd i installed, surely no extra drivers are needed for this?

xp was originally made before sata drives came out. therefore it does not have them inherent in the installation disks. You will have to install XP either from a slipstream disc, or use a floppy drive, or use the manufactuer supplied installation disc. The last is the most recommended as it will have the appropriate drivers specific to your system.