Got that new PC, but trouble installing windows

[RahulM]

Specs:


CPU: AMD64 4000+
CASE: ATX Antec SLK3000B NOPS BLACK
MOBO: DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Sli-DR
HDD: 2x Raptor 10k RPM (RAID0)
VidCard: 2x 6800 Ultras
Psupply: 600W Enermax noisetaker
Ram: Kingston KVR 400mhz DDR NO-ECC 2gig kit
Monitor: Dell 2405FPW
Extras:Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu heatsink and a Vantec 120mm Stealthfan
Opt. drive:NEC 3520A

I just got the PC, the store stress tested, benchmarked it and everything. They installed windows on it and it worked fine. They formatted it and gave me the PC without any OS cause I didn't wanna pay 200 bucks again for Windows, I already have the CD.

I put the CD in, it booted fine, I formatted the hard drive into NTFS (it was fat32), after copying files, it said that it'll restart and resume the installation. Unfortunately, it doesn't, after a line with "DMI" in it, it either asks me to boot from CD again. If it I don't press a key on time, it doesn't do anything. And if I do press it on time, it brings me back to Windows setup, from where I can either repeat what I've done or reboot.

If I set the hard drive to be the primary boot device, it does the same thing, no CD prompt , just straight to being stuck.

 

[mettleh3d]

Could it be your CD? Was ur Xp cd a home edition that came bundled with a previous machine? Sometimes those work/dont work I dono. Its complicated and all about money.

 

[mettleh3d]

I re-read your specs. An Xp Pro key/cd is certainly not $200 (newegg) and even 200 pales in comparison to what you probably spent here. Sweet

 

[KennyD6169]

I'm 90% positive that it's a setting in your BIOS telling it to boot from the CD-ROM first which is causing this problem. Try setting the boot order to HDD > CD-ROM or if it's already set like that switch it to CDROM > HDD

I remember I had trouble installing windows XP because my bios was booting like I described above. I can't remember the exact boot order... I'm pretty sure it was HDD > CD-ROM but it might be vice-versa

Anyway.. let us know if this fixes it.


EDIT: I missed the last line in your post stating that you've already tried this... Sorry.

 

[RahulM]

It turned out to be the Raid drivers. I was foolish enough to not install a floppy drive, turns out it was a crucial part in installing windows and recognizing my raid array... whoopsie...