Windows XP Installation Stuck Midway - Need Help

[timeaftertime]

Hi....

3 weeks ago i downloaded an application from the internet and got alot of spyware running on my computer. So i decided to do a complete clean install of

Windows XP on my PC. The installation got stuck midway. I will try to be as descriptive as possible.

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So, while i was still in my current xp i inserted the windows xp installation cd into the cd-rom. Then from my-computer i right-clicked on my cdrom drive and clicked Autoplay.

Then a blue window came up saying -
'Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP.
What do you want to do?
-Intall Windows XP
-Learn more about the setup process.
-Intall optional Windows components
-Perform additional tasks'
I clicked on 'Install Windows XP'

Then a blue screen appeared which on the left said -
'-Collection Information(hilighted in orange)
-Dynamic Update
-Preparing Installation
-Installing Windows
-Finalizing Instalation
Instalation will complete in 60-90 minutes
To cancel Setup, press the ESC key.

On the right of the screen there was a window which said -
'Welcome to Windows Setup
Installation Type: Upgrade(Recommended)/New Install(Advanced)'
I then selected 'New Install' and clicked 'Next'

Then the window had the Licence Agreement
I selected 'I accept this agreement' and clicked 'Next'

Then the window asked for the product key
I put in the 25-charachter product key and clicked 'Next'

Then the windows had Setup Optionss
It had 'Advanced Options', 'Accessibility Options' and 'Select the primary language.....'
I did not change anything and clicked 'Next'

Then the window said 'Get Updated Setup Files'
The options were 'Yes,download the updated Setup files(Recomended)' & 'No, skip this step and continue installing Windows'
I selected 'No, skip this step and continue...' and clicked 'Next'

Then the screen said 'An exiting new look..........'
On the left it said 'Installing files'


After that it said 'Restarting Computer
To resart manually press ESC'

Then the computer restarted and the said
'Please select the operating system to start:
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional Setup.'


In the above options 'Windows XP Professional Setup' is selected by default.
It give me 5 seconds to choose.
If i choose 'Windows XP Professional Setup' then the screen turns black with a '_' blinking at the top left.
If i choose 'Windows XP Professional' the screen first shows loading Windows XP; then the screen turns black with only the cursor arrow visible which
moves if i move the mouse.
If i restart the pc by the reset button i again get the above 2 options

Then i tried getting into safe mode and that was possible. Then i tried doing the same installation again but from safe mode.
The installation took place in the same way as before and restarted at the same step and again i got the 2 options.

A friend of mine said that windows XP should not be installed by running the cd through autoplay while still in the existing windows xp.
He said that the right way is to set BIOS setting to boot from cd and then insert the installation cd and restart the computer
I tried this. In BIOS setting i set CD-ROM as the highest priority for booting ,before hard disk and floppy.
Then i inserted the installation cd and restarted the pc. But the pc just does not boot from cd. It directly goes to the 2 options.
'Please select the operating system to start:
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional Setup.'

From what i have read on the internet i am supposed to get a screen which says 'press any key to boot from cd'.
I never get this screen. I again went to BIOS and checked; CD-ROM was set to highest priority for booting.
I restarted again and it does not boot from the cd, or ask me to insert a cd or anything.
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Any help with this problem will be appreciated. I have been stuck with this for 3 weeks now.
Thanks in advance.

 

[raybay]

Did you get a choice to deal with the partition...
You want to remove the partition, then reboot and install the partition. It will take a while... perhaps as much as 45 minutes, but then everything afterward will work ok.
Don't forget you also have to install the drivers for everything.

 

[timeaftertime]

I did not get a choice to deal with partitions.
Is it fine if i remove partitions while i'm still in the existing windows xp and then reboot so that the pc reboots from cd. I will have to remove partitions on my own as windowsXP instalation cd is not giving me an option to deal with partitions.
I still don't know why the pc does not boot from cd.

 

[LookinAround]

Tell us your computer make/model.

 

[raybay]

Are you running from a cold boot? Sounds as if the computer is on or in suspend when you start. Do you have access to any other Windows boot CD to test, or to remove partition.

 

[timeaftertime]

I have an assembled pc. I got it assembled from a local computer retail store 3 years ago.
P4 3GHz
512MB Ram
80GB Hard Disk (3 partitions - C:30GB(RootDrive), D:30GB, E:20GB)
Windows XP OS
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Now, i don't know how to say this but, in the country i live in mostly all s/w's are pirated. Right now i have 4 Windows XP cd's on my table. 3 of them have just been lying around at my place for years. I don't even know who has burnt them or even used them. The fourth one is a friends; i know it works fine 'coz all my friends have used the same one and it installed xp fine on their pc's. Infact i successfully installed XP on my PC with the same cd around 4 months ago.
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Today i again tried running all 4 cds by right clicking and then selecting 'autoplay'. All of them gave the same problem as i have stated in my first post - the computer restarted and the said
'Please select the operating system to start:
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional Setup.'
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Now, the booting settings in BIOS was already set with 1st priority to CD-ROM. But still the PC would not boot from cd. I would not get any message saying 'press any key to boot from cd'. Then i went into BIOS and kept only one choice for boot priority - CD-ROM. I disabled priority 2 & 3.
Then i tried rebooting for all 4 cds. For 3 cds, on restarting the pc said something like 'Please select another booting media from BIOS or insert disk for the selected media'.
For the 4th CD (this is one of the older cd which was just lying around), when i restarted the pc it said 'press any key to boot from cd'. After i pressed any key then the blue screen for windows setup started. At the bottom right it said loading files XYZ (video drivers, PCI drivers.........and many other files.); this continued for a long time.Then the message on the blue screen said
STOP C0000221 Unknown Hard Error
\System Root\System32\ntdll.dll
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On a seperate note troubleshooting this problem has been a kind of a learning experience for me. I really like learning, fixing and tweaking PC hardware,OS & S/W even though i don't know much. 6 weeks back my pc would keep shutting 'coz of thermal heating. Then after reading alot on the net i could fix the problem; it felt really good. And now i have found TechSpot and this forum is like a library of knowledge and i really hope someday i get really good at this stuff.

 

[raybay]

As you already know, it could be just about anything... power supply, cpu fan failing, memory, pci device... but the most common cause is a bad hard drive... and for some models (Maxtor, Hitachi, Samsung, TriGem) three years is about all you an expect out of them... or if you have a Silver (rather than black) Western Digital drive from three years back.
So first consider how badly you need the data on that drive. You can probably use th drive and rescue data, even though it does not boot...

 

[timeaftertime]

Raybay........you were right; the problem was with my hard disk...........it had to be formatted and repartitioned.
I attached it as a slave to my friends pc and then got it formatted and partitioned after that the XP installation worked smoothly.
Thanks Raybay.........
LookingAround, thanks to u too.

PS: This thread can be closed