Odd reoccuring WinXP/2k Install Problem

SNGX1275

SNGX1275

Posts: 10,615   +468
I have no idea what the response to this will be since its confused many of my computer literate friends. Hopefully someone will prove my friends "illiterate" so I will know what to do in the future.

Ok Here are the specs to start off with:
Asus A7V Mobo
512 Crucial Cas2 RAM
Hard Drives Varied same problems but here they are (IBM Deskstar ATA 100 60 gig, Maxtor ATA 133 80 gig)
Various CD Drives (this shouldn't matter)
Athlon Thunderbird 1ghz

Here is the deal:
Blank Hard Drive (by this I mean straight from factory - nothign on it)
fdisk - create primary dos partition
Boot from XP CD: Result - "Missing Operating System" or "Press A Key to Reboot". <sorry I don't specifically remember which caused which I saw each several times though>
Boot from win98 floppy:
If run x:\i386\winnt.exe it runs for a bit then says somethign like win xp needs 383 megs of hard drive space somethign about swap partition.
If run format c: I get the normal stuff and it only sees 10.xx gigs thats no good - I never let that finish.
Boot from 98 cd: Formats c:\ fine -> Installs OS fine.
see's all 80 gigs.

What am I doing wrong here? Hopefully something simple that I can correct in the future. Cause installin 98 and then upgrading to XP isn't the desired affect.
 
You shouldn't need to create any partitions with FDISK. You should just be able to boot from the XP CD, it should detect that the hard drive is unformatted, and offer to format it in FAT32 or NTFS.

Have you tried creating a Floppy Disk XP Install Set?

Also, is this XP Home or XP Professional?
 
Originally posted by SNGX1275
Boot from XP CD: Result - "Missing Operating System" or "Press A Key to Reboot". <sorry I don't specifically remember which caused which I saw each several times though>
Click to expand...
It's not booting from XP CD, is it?
 
Un hook all of your drives, except a single CD-ROM and a single Hard disk and then try to install XP.

You might think I've crazy, but I've worked on systems that wouldn't install XP, but would install 98 perfectly. That is, until I arraged the CDROM and hard disks a certain way.

I think in all cases, placing the CDROM and hard disk on seperate channels fixed this. Make sure both are set to master too, if you try this.

This could be a sign you should flash your BIOS (if this works), because there could be problems with your BIOS and a particular channel/drive.
 
Th3M1ghtyD8 - XP Professional - no I didn't try with XP floppies cause I dont' have 4 or however many there are to spare - and I'm not even sure where you'd do that anyway.

Mictlantecuhtli - no it is not booting from the cd. Set up to though in BIOS. I'm trying to remember if I see it spinning the drive... Well anyway it spun up for sure with the 98 disk cause that installed.

Rick - I've done that. My MOBO has those 2 ata100 spots and 2 normal ones. So I actually didn't hook up the other hard drives until I got XP installed. And yeh the cd was on a different channel and was the only one hooked up.
 
Originally posted by SNGX1275
Th3M1ghtyD8 - XP Professional - no I didn't try with XP floppies cause I dont' have 4 or however many there are to spare - and I'm not even sure where you'd do that anyway.
Click to expand...

Go to My Computer>Right click on floppy drive>Format>Click on the checkbox that says 'MAKE BOOTABLE DISK' or something of the sort. It only takes 1 disk thankfully.



I'm having the same problems with my WinXP Pro disk, and the most frustrating thing is that it used to work on my computer! You should try it with that disk.
 
Originally posted by PHATMAN5050


Go to My Computer>Right click on floppy drive>Format>Click on the checkbox that says 'MAKE BOOTABLE DISK' or something of the sort. It only takes 1 disk thankfully.



I'm having the same problems with my WinXP Pro disk, and the most frustrating thing is that it used to work on my computer! You should try it with that disk.
Click to expand...

That's just the "MSDOS" startup diskette... Only without any utilities.. It just clean boots the system into DOS. (Good for BIOS flashing etc..)

The actual, bootable, setup diskettes are no longer available. Windows 2000 has a feature that lets you make a setup diskette, but it was taken out in Windows XP. Fortunately, I think you can download the XP setup diskette from Microsoft. Try this:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=33291
 
Originally posted by Rick

The actual, bootable, setup diskettes are no longer available. Windows 2000 has a feature that lets you make a setup diskette, but it was taken out in Windows XP. Fortunately, I think you can download the XP setup diskette from Microsoft. Try this:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=33291
Click to expand...
What advantage is this over just a normal 98/Me Boot Floppy?
This is getting a little off topic. I would still like to know if anyone knows why I'm expierencing this problem.
 
Originally posted by SNGX1275

What advantage is this over just a normal 98/Me Boot Floppy?
This is getting a little off topic. I would still like to know if anyone knows why I'm expierencing this problem.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, this is still fairly on topic. I don't think anyone here is able to diagnose your problem, but this floppy disk may be an actual solution so you can get Windows XP on your system without having to upgrade.

The advantage over a 98/me disk is the ability to read/format NTFS and the ability install Windows XP. It is quite literally the exact same boot up sequence used by the CD.

But you'll need AT LEAST 4 floppy disks (I think PHAT said 6), so this is the big drawback. But you can get Windows XP on your system using this method if you can't find an answer.

Just consider it a replacement for the CD's boot procedure, in that you don't need the CD to boot in order to install Windows XP.
 
Originally posted by Rick
.....but this floppy disk may be an actual solution so you can get Windows XP on your system without having to upgrade......

Just consider it a replacement for the CD's boot procedure, in that you don't need the CD to boot in order to install Windows XP.
Click to expand...
Well thats the deal, if it does the same thing as the cd then its going to give me the same problem.
 
Originally posted by SNGX1275

Well thats the deal, if it does the same thing as the cd then its going to give me the same problem.
Click to expand...

You are having problems booting fromt the CD, correct?

Does it actually show the blue screen and starts the pre-installation process? Or does it go straight the error message?

If it goes straight to the error message, then there is a good chance the floppy disk will work because the problem lies with Windows XP + CDROM. If you take the CDROM out of the equation, then that leaves you with less room for error.

If it actually begins installing, but doesn't work, then there's more possiblity for a fix such as turning off BIOS/MBR protection you have enabled in your BIOS. Maybe you could even try rewriting the boot sector yourself using the recovery console during Windows XP setup.. etc...

I'm under the impression that CD isn't booting at all though - It just gives an error. If this is the case, then the floppy is more than just worth trying, it's almost for sure.
 
Originally posted by Th3M1ghtyD8
I know - I suggested it originally :D

I just wanted to know if it had been tried yet
Click to expand...
Well this is one of those unfortunate situations where I will not be able to say if it worked right away because I only have 1 computer, and after working on it for several hours to just get XP on it I dont' really want to fry this installation and try the 6 boot floppies just to see if it works. I'm sure I'll reinstall soon because several things are concerning me about this XP installation (probably acting wierd cause it was an upgrade from 98). I'll also need to go buy some floppies because I only have 2 :).
 
Thanks

I'd like to thank those that posted in this thread. I was expierencing some problems with performance in everything and I blamed it on the upgrade from 98. So I went out to Staples and bought 10 of the cheapest floppy disks they had - which then became the XP boot floppies. I booted from them - wiped all partitions - and created 1 big 80 gig partition in NTFS, and then installed XP. Its only been running for 15 minutes or so but it appears to be working better than earlier today before I did this.
 
Originally posted by Didou
Sn actually payed 5 bucks for those floppies too !!! :dead:

/me runs away...
Click to expand...
I know... its outrageous the price of those "almost obsolete" disks.
A little math will show something:
Floppy:
1.44Megs * 10 = 14.4Megs
$5 for 14.4Megs = $.35 per Meg

CD:
My most recent purchase was 400Disks for $70 (with shipping)
400disks @ 700Megs = 280,000Megs
280,000Megs for $70 = $.00025 per Meg

That makes floppies 1388 times more expensive.
 

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