XP Setup Problem

[col.nixon]

when i try installing xp i go through the pre-setup proceedures, format the hard drive, my comp reboots and take me back to the pre-setup screen where i have to format again, im stuck in a circle. it is not triggering the actual installation when it reboots.

can this have anything to do with the jumpers on my hard drive???
my hard drive comes up as a primary master no matter what pins i put the jumper on, tis a maxtor hard drive

any ideas any1???

 

[SNGX1275]

Sounds to me like its booting from the cd each time, and therefore beginning the setup again. Remove the CD from the drive and let it boot from the HD to continue setup, once it starts booting from the HD put the cd back in.

You can also change it in the BIOS to boot from your HD first.

 

[col.nixon]

already tried that m8

when i remove the cd i get an invalid system disk boot error or something along the lines of that anyway,
ive also tried 2 differant versions of xp and the same thing happens with my windows 98 cd

 

[SNGX1275]

Is it copying any files to your hard drive after its format? It may just want to boot after formatting before it puts the files on, I'm not sure I wasn't paying attention last time I installed XP. But when you get to the screen asking you if you want to format as fat32 ntfs or leave current file system intact, just tell it to leave current file system intact since you have already formatted it. If it starts copying the files over then it should boot on its own if you take the cd out.

 

[col.nixon]

good thinking

like your style m8 but i have already tried this aswell, it does copy my files to the system cause when i try to leave the file system intact it says there is already a windows setup installed in the current directory, gives me options to delete existing install and overwrite or to install on a differant partition.
tried both of these options as i have partitioned my hard drive and the same occurs on both partitions

any more ideas m8???

appretiate ur help

 

[SNGX1275]

I can't think of any more suggestions I can back up with my own expierence. But I do have a thing you can look into.

Perhaps your partition you are copying the setup files to is not set active. I'm not entirely sure what I'm talking about here but I believe with a 98 boot floppy when you use fdisk you have to set the partition you want your os installed to as active. Otherwise it doesn't work. If you set up your partitions with fdisk perhaps you didn't set it active?

Have you had this computer up and running before? I'm not implying there is a hardware problem by any means, but what I'm getting at is have you had 9x or XP running on it before, and are the drive settings the same.

Do you have multiple hard drives in that comp? Are they on seperate IDE channels or the same? Your jumper settings should (but I'm not sure its required) be set as master on the drive you want XP on, and it should be put on the primary ide channel on the motherboard.

 

[col.nixon]

xxx

hi m8 yes on boot disk i set the partition to active, i tried installing both 98 n xp on the active partition, xp starts installing but for some reason crashes, cant remember why cause im at work at the mo,
yeh i had 2 hard drives, i had 2 bootable xp's on the hard drive im working on now, 1 on each partition. i got a problem with my ram and ended up formatting my comp, i got new ram and cant do much with my comp.

the hard drive is set as primary master and ive left the other hd out of my system so the primary slave is free'd up, my other hd is partitoned aswell, 1st partition has vital data on it and the other is blank, nothing will install on the blank partition but i think with it been the second partition that causes issues. anyway m8 ive been informed by some1 to try diabling SMART so i will have a play about with it tonight and let u know the score tomorow, i will check this forum again before i go home tonight to see if you have put any more suggestions forward

cheers for your help bud...

 

[jstillion]

If you fdisk from windows 98/98se make sure you use the "fixed" version:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q263044

There was a bug with fdisk and HD larger then 64 gb. The WindowsME disk should be fine. You can download WindowsME OEM boot disk (with fdisk) here:
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Do you have an original XP CD? or did you get / create your XP CD, you may have an issue XP CD too.

I would try what SNGX1275 says and pre-format fat32 (you can convert it later).

 

[bushwhacker]

Or you can do this...

Go to bios and set the first boot to CDROM
Press any key to boot the computer using windows xp cd (let it finish work)
When requested, Delete your old partions (DONT MAKE NEW PARTIONS)
Format the hard disk by using NTFS (Not quick, full)
THen it will install Windows XP automatically. I got my Winxp pro up and running by using 9 gb hdd and it boot without plms

Lucan, a.k.a. The Reckoning

P.S. sorry for edit, also, Win9x wont boot into NTFS and WInxp tend have problems when running os in FAT32 partion. Just use NTFS and you will be good to go.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

After you have formated the HD when the computer reboots and you get the message press any key to boot from cd DO NOT PRESS ANYTHING and let the computer boot from the HD the installation process will continue normaly.

Also you need to leave the XP cd in the drive or you will get an error message.


Hope this helps Regards Howard

:hotbounce