Computer won't install WinXP? Is it a mobo problem?

[dcdomain]

I'm wondering if the motherboard is dying on me, the mobo's been in service for about three years or so.

I've switched harddrives, and cd-roms and I can't get the WinXP install to finish. I also tried unplugging all the drives except the two that were needed. Also tried installing with two different WinXP discs.

The only thing that would make me question whether or not it's a hardware problem is that when I go into the BIOS the computer doesn't freeze on me.

Anyone know what could be the culprit? It has me stumped.

 

[CraigRT]

what exactly happens?
not really sure since you werent clear on the symptoms.

 

[nfixit2004]

with xp, could be the MB but I would check the memory, some memory have problems when installing xp, also video and other hardware


question you might want to ask your self > in what stage of installation does xp act up? ex. when copying files, installing hardware etc.

hope this helps

 

[Jayczar]

what are the specs. on your setup?

 

[dcdomain]

I'm not sure of the eact setup, it's a friend's computer.
It freezes in the beginning of the setup when WinXP is copying files over.
At first we thought it was the harddrive, so we replaced it, but that didn't do anything so we tookout the DVD-rom and tried installing from the CDR. That also didn't work...

It could possibly be a memory issue? I'll check to see if he has more than one module so we can mess around with that.

 

[pdn]

Originally posted by: nfixit2004
with xp, could be the MB but I would check the memory, some memory have problems when installing xp, also video and other hardware


question you might want to ask your self > in what stage of installation does xp act up? ex. when copying files, installing hardware etc.

hope this helps

I think it could be the memory also because I was attempting to get an OEM memory stick to work but it did the exact same thing wile copying the files in XP. Swapped out the memory and now it works fine. That's the thing with OEM cheap memory is the limited compatibilities.

 

[kuritadelta]

Originally posted by: dcdomain
I'm not sure of the eact setup, it's a friend's computer.
It freezes in the beginning of the setup when WinXP is copying files over.
At first we thought it was the harddrive, so we replaced it, but that didn't do anything so we tookout the DVD-rom and tried installing from the CDR. That also didn't work...

It could possibly be a memory issue? I'll check to see if he has more than one module so we can mess around with that.

sounds like bad memory... Windows are extremely sensitive to rams.. In my experience your problem is 99% memory problem. In rare cases, it's the bad media(winXP cd) or bad CD-rom. while you may be using the ram that you think it's good because it worked fine in previous setup or on another machine, it still may not work during install.

 

[MplsBob]

I sure wish my old motherboard would have been smart enough to reject Windows ME when I installed it as the replacement for Windows 98. That installation took God knows how many tries, with fatal error messages at different places, and a whole lot of hours.

Windows 98 was good, Windows ME wasn't.

So maybe your motherboard is just plain smart and is trying to tell you something.

 

[bluegreenturtle]

I have experienced flakey IDE controllers rejecting NTFS installations. Thus 98 works, XP doesn't Try formatting the disk with FAT32 and installing it then and see what happens.

Your installation media could be scratched, too?

 

[BFG10K]

Do you have the latest BIOS for your motherboard? It pays to have it when installing a new OS.