Can't install WindowsXP

[Emultra]

My WindowsXP installation on a brand new comp with new hard disk isn't proceeding. It's stuck at "39 minutes" and gets nowhere.

I'm installing on partition C: with 20GB and formatted with NTFS.

I've never done anything like this before and I need some help. 🙂

 

[bowserjs]

Could be an error on the cd, or you could try to build the machine with bare minimum, cpu,mem,vc, and disable everything else then try to load up windows

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Again, you may need a driver installed for your hard drive.

 

[Emultra]

Driver for my hard drive? How?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

If you're using a RAID or SATA controller on the motherboard, you almost certainly have to install drivers for the controller during the install process. You usually don't need to do this for a regular EIDE onboard controller. You need to have those drivers ready on a FLOPPY (not a CD). When you start the XP Install the very first prompt will ask something like "Press F6 if need to install SCSI or other controller drivers". This message only appears a few seconds.

Press F6 and after it loads all the basic files it'll prompt you for a floppy with your drivers.

Some other suggestions:

- Pull ALL cards except the video card during the install. If this problem persists, go into BIOS and disable onboard LAN, sound, and firewire. The fewer things Windows has to find drivers for during install, the less likely you are to have problems. You can enable them after Windows installs and then re-install the drivers.

- Set your BIOS settings to SAFE defaults for now. Tweak later.

- You sure your RAM is good? Run MEMTEST86 and check it. If you're using more than one stick, and your mobo doesn't require a matched pair, use one stick for now and see if it'll install.

Hope this helps...

 

[Emultra]

I have a SATA hard drive, with the thin red cables instead of the old super wide, flat ones.

How do I get drivers and test RAM without being able to do anything with my comp other than entering BIOS?

I have no cards installed other than video.


And I guess the fact that I used a recovery WindowsXP CD is quite relevant...

 

[Creston]

I had a similar issue with a SATA drive. Is your harddrive the only SATA device you've got, or do you have other ones too?

If you have other ones, go into your BIOS and turn off all RAID controllers (just disable everything that says RAID).

Apparently Windows isn't too picky about what it uses for a RAID on SATA, and on my system it was trying to do a RAID between my HD and my CD Burner... 😱

Also, that Windows XP partition is really large, I don't know if Microsoft ever fixed those partition issues or not. Try making that a 10GB or even a 4GB partition. This will also help with computer speed. Multiple partitions = good. One Giant Partition = Bad.

But try turning off Raid, see how that goes.

Also, if your motherboard supports it, make sure that you have your drive connected to the SATA controller on your mobo, and NOT to your SATA II controllers (usually a different color.)
Windows doesn't like SATA II much without some very specialized drivers.

Creston

 

[Emultra]

I only have one SATA device as far as I know. I plugged it into the lower right connector, which I think says SATA 1 or something.

Why is it bad to have one huge partition? My D: is 180GB. Should I split it into several? Do all people who have newer hard drives with over 100GB do this?

And where do I remove/reset the partitions so that I can do a fresh and clean start?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

If your SATA controller requires drivers for XP install then you should have gotten them on a floppy OR there may be a floppy creator app included on your mobo's driver CD. You'll need to pop that CD into a nother computer to make the floppy.

Read the instructions for the SATA drivers. Sometimes you just need to copy the driver files from the CD onto a floppy yourself.