WinXP Pro Instalation problem

[larrybody]

My sister has a 4 year old computer that I am fixxing up for my niece who just got a Ipod. The only thing I have kept is the case and hard drive and floppy. Everything else is new. It boots up to BIOS and autodetects all the hardware. I partitioned and formated the 40GB ATA 100 harddrive from a Win 98 start disk. I can boot from a floppy, CD and can evan make the HD bootable. Here is my problem. When I load the XP instalation cd and boot it, it states that "setup is loading files" and does just that. When it gets to the screen that "setup is loading windows" is just hangs there. I tried another instalations CD, same thing. I tried another CD rom, same thing. I ran Memtest86+, everything good. All I can think of is to try another HD, but chkdsk found no errors on this one. I can give you details of my hardware if needed. Do I need to use the drivers CD that came with the motherboard? I always waited untill after the OS was installed. Your thoughts appreciated.

 

[iss]

First, why are yu formatting from a win 98 floppy when you can boot from the XP cd and partion and format with it?

a few things to try, if the Hard drive is on the IDE cable by itself try removing the jumper altogether. also check the cd\dvdrom you are using and make sure that the jumper is set correctly on it.

 

[NealsComp]

I have seen this problem in the past as well. Even though you have run Memtest and found no problems, try a new stick of ram. Can't tell you why, but usually this will work. Then put back the old ram after installation of the OS and it should work fine. I guess it has something to do with the installation load that is put on the ram.

 

[larrybody]

Windows XP Pro Instalation Problem

I changed the jumper settings on the 40GB Samsung ATA 100 drive from Cable Select to Master and installed a new ribbon cable on the primary IDE controller. No luck. I removed the two sticks of 256MB PC2700 Corsair RAM (which is new) and replace it with another new 256MB stick of PC2700 I purchased today. Still instilation hangs at the "setup is starting windows" screen. I ordered a new hard drive today, because I cannot think of what else it might be. I can load 16 bit programs into the memory and the hard drive. I can boot windows XP from the disk, but it hangs. Any thoughts on what else I might try. I will try the new HD when it arives.

 

[alidabiri]

if you can boot from the hard disk in win-98, your jumper settings and cabling are correct.
do this.
boot with win98 disk (floppy, i assume)
do an fdisk
format your hard disk
turn computer off
put xp cd in cd rom drive
turn computer on
start tapping del, f1, esc or other keyes that will get you to bios
in bios boot sequence, choose boot from cd rom first
save bios and exit.
let win-xp install.
then post error msg if any.

hard disk jumper/cable settings:
1 - master only: (only child - no other hard disks on that cable) this will connect to the end of the cable). some mfg's have a different settings for the jumpers for this option. follow jumper settings from mfg.

2 - master and slave: the master drive will connect to the end as above and the slave will connect to the middle of the cable. each disk will have a master and slave jumpber setting.

 

[alidabiri]

if you install xp when you already have win98 on you computer, it's a whole new ball game. then you're talking about upgrading from win98 to xp. xp will not format your hard disk if there's already an os resident on that pc. it will perform an upgrade if your xp is such. what xp cd do you have?
upgrade?
oem?
full retail?