Cannot load XP on new computer

Status
Not open for further replies.

drworm73

Posts: 22   +0
I am building a PC for my father, and I have run in to a snag. I have built PCs three times before, and have never had much more than a hiccup, but this is killing me. I am trying to install XP media edition on to a fresh hard drive, and I keep getting blocked. The first time I did this yesterday I got a blue screen with an error telling me that there was something wrong with my Hard Drive or I had a virus (obviously impossible). The Error was:

Stop: 0x0000007B (0xF78D2524, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

So I tried to reboot, and got stalled at the "Verifying DMI Pool..." step and could not ever get back in to windows install. I took the HD back to Frys today, and got it replaced with a new one. I brought it home, and got the same problem only I do not get stopped at the the "Verifying DMI Pool..." step any more. I just get to the blue screen and it gives me the same error. The version of XP media edition is a new OEM version.

HELP! All the components are new and pretty top of the line.
 
Avoid posting the same question more than once in these forums. Your shotgun approach will tend to create confusion when different members try to help you in more than one thread.

That said, give us a list of your components for starters.
 
Sorry, posted the other one then realized that this forum was more appropriate.

Off the top of my head (it is 1 am):
Gigabyte mother board (not sure the model);
AMD quad core 9550 (I think);
2, 1 gig ram sticks;
Western Digital 160 gig SATA hard drive;
2 pioneer SATA dvd roms (he wants 2...whatever);
500 watt power supply;
Radeon 3650 1 gig graphics card.
Windows XP Media edition (OEM version)

That should be the relevent info, I can check on some of the other stuff tomorrow evening.
 
Suggestion:

Use only 1 stick of the ram

Use only 1 Sata cd/dvd on Sata port 2 or 3 (assunimg 0, 1, 2, 3 etc)

Hook the Sata HD to Sata port 0

Set boot order Cd/Dvd, HD

edit: if 1 is available use an IDE Cd/Dvd instead of the Sata
 
Okay... tried a bunch of things with no success.

Tried with one RAM stick...no change
Tried with just the other RAM stick...no change
Tried with one DVD ROM drive...no change
Tried with HD in SATA 0...no change
Tried HD in a ll SATA ports...no change

I am beginning to get worried that I have a bad motherboard. I would rather not take it out and back if there is something else to try. It seems like if the Motherboard was bad it would have had problems well before the installation of XP stage.
 
Appears to me as if you are using Quick Format rather than the full format, or that you are not removing and reinstalling the partion, then performing the full format.
I see no indication that you have a bad motherboard, memory, or hard drive.
Be sure to edit your BIOS at startup by pressing the <DEL> key, then changing the boot order to the CD drive holding the Windows XP Media Edition disk. Then cold boot to the CD after a full shut-down.
 
Well for me it is a fresh install on to a new HD, so formatting is not an issue. As for the driver, I am unsure. I looked at the list of supported HD, and while the Caviar SE is not listed, many other WD Caviar HD are. I have not been able to try it though as f6 is not working for me. The only keyboard I have is a USB keyboard, so it will not run until the drivers are installed in windows. I need to go down to the goodwill or something and get myself a vary basic keyboard in order to try this avenue.

Also, my HD came with a CD-ROM, and the instructions keep saying I need to look for the drivers on a floppy. I have no floppy drive.
 
Actually, if you have not removed any existing partition and installed a new partition, and formatted the partition, it very well could be the issue. Did you use the Western Digital Caviar SE hard drive setup CD-ROM to parition and format? Even then, you may need to re-format, depending on how it was done.
New hard drives do not arrive partitioned and formatted. You must do that with Windows or other OS, or you must use the setup disk that came with the full retail version of the hard drive.
The partition and format IS the driver for the hard drive. The rest comes from the operating system.
USB keyboards will work if the motherboard is installed properly. The fancy parts need drivers, but the keyboard itself should be detected if the chipset is installed. If the keyboard worked before you changed the hard drive, it should work now.
The drivers referred to on the cd-rom are the other needed drivers for your system ethernet or modem, video graphics, audio, and special components such as extra USB ports, flash drive for photos, etc. Western Digital is merely indicating that the drivers do not come with the hard drive install CD.
You are going through your second hard drive with the same issue. Your motherboard is not causing this or preventing this.
 
You are going through your second hard drive with the same issue. Your motherboard is not causing this or preventing this.



Wrong. Because he has replaced the hard drive already, the suspicion against other hardware is immediately raised. By default the Windows installer will prompt you to partition and format a hard drive with no partition table, and will do such without issue. You do not need any external software, manufacturer provided or not, to accomplish this.

A USB keyboard may not function inside a pre-OS environment if the proper support in the BIOS is not enabled. The name changes from system to system, but typically under a USB category will be a "USB Keyboard" toggle which will allow it to function outside an OS.

If you did indeed attach a new drive to the system, and it is the only drive present, I would begin to suspect either your configuration or other hardware. This is especially so since you indicated this is a new system.

First things first, I would suggest you run memtest86 or memtest86+ on the system, booted from a CD ( http://memtest.org ). You can download a bootable ISO on another system and burn it to CD. Then, let that run for a few passes to see if your RAM and CPU are functioning properly.
 
Okay I went back, got a new n HD (#3) and tried again...guess what...nothing

So I read the instructions...I realized that my problem all along is that I need to unpack drivers from my motherboard CD and put them on a floppy and load them. GREAT! Problem is I don't have a bloody floppy drive...who the hell uses a floppy drive? What the hell?

Is there any way to load those drivers without a floppy? The literature says that if you are installing XP you must have one, where as Vista will load them from a CD.
 
Are these SATA drivers? If you actually do need SATA drivers for your motherboard, make sure you haven't enabled SATA RAID.

You may see if the board supports IDE Legacy support, which should remove the need for drivers.

If you truly do need the drivers, however, you're out of luck - only a slipstreamed CD or a floppy drive will load drivers into an XP preinstall.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back