Problem installing Windows XP...!!

[Parimal]

My friend has compaq machine with Pentium 3 650MHz, 256MB SD RAM and Quantum Fireball 15GB hard drive. Whenever I try to install Windows XP, the following error occurs on first restart. The error is something like this on black screen

"Couldn't open drive multi (0) disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (1)
NTLDR: Couldn't open drive multi (0) disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (1)"

I'm not able to point out the problem, please help.....!!!

 

[Munky]

Your hard drive partition might be corrupted. Did you do a full format before you installed xp?

 

[h2]

You may need to dowload the old quantum fireball disk utility, the one you install on a floppy, then you can run the full disk overwrite on it, takes forever, but the disk will be like new. While you're at it, you can check the disk for errors too. Check for errors first, if there's a bunch I'd dump the disk and pick up a new one for $40 or so, it's better than banging your head against the wall.

 

[Parimal]

I have done low level formatting (writting zeros) with MaxBlast. No diff at all......I have formatted same HDD on diff machine with same CD of Win XP.......no problem at all.

 

[rmrf]

bad ram causing data corruption during first phase of install?

 

[Parimal]

is this a question or answer???

 

[h2]

that's an answer. Bad ram, cheap ram, mismatched bad ram, mismatched speeds. XP doesn't like bad ram. Try it with a stick of known good ram, name brand, crucial, samsung, kingston, corsair - take out the current ram first of course.