^&*( piece of ^&*^& computer

[kamaboko]

Hi,

I've been trying to reinstall WinXP Pro on a known good IDE 80GB hard drive. The Bios detects the drive both before and after installing the XP Pro files, but upon reboot after the files have been copied to the HD, the OS doesn't continue its installation. This is getting very frustrating. Ideas? I've got the latest Bios on the MB. Could this be a memory issue?

Thanks,
K

 

[Blain]

Boot order maybe?

 

[FreshFish]

Originally posted by: Blain
Boot order maybe?

That's my only thought....switch HDD to boot first. Do you get any error messages or does it just boot the cd again?

 

[Blain]

kamaboko,
I understand that you're sitting right there and see everything that's going on, but we aren't.
Please give more specific detail about your problem. :roll:

 

[kamaboko]

OK....more details.

Prior to this reinstall of WinXP Pro, everything on this computer was working just fine. That is to say XP booted and so forth. I wiped the HD with a commercial software app, then continued to install XP. The HD is listed in the Bios as the first boot device, and the DVD Rom as the second. Also, I've disabled the SATA option in the Bios as well for good measure (just to knock out possible issues). I had XP format the drive with NTFS as I've done many times before. Afterward it copied the files to the hard drive. Upon reboot it asks if I want to boot to the CD but I don't take that option. It's at that point that all goes to crap. I just get a flashing cursor in the top left window for a minute or two and then black screen.

Things I've done:

Updated Bios
Reset memory (and tried each stick individually)
Tried numerous IDE ribbon cables
Connected HD to IDE 1 & 2 on MB
Used another legit copy of WinXP Pro
Tried another HD (both IDE and SATA)

In each case it just doesn't work.

Hardware:
AMD 64x2 4400+
Corsair Value Select 4x512
HD Seagate Baracuda 80GB
Geforce 7600 PCI-E

Is there anything else you'd like to know? Let me know...in the mean time I'm just steaming here. lol.