Restarts during XP installation on Dell

[leegroves86]

My friends dell has: P4 1.6ghz, 512 ram, 80 gig IDE HDD. It had virus & "badware" on it so I reformated it thinking i'd use the recovery CD to reinstall XP. When it boots off the CD it says the normal: "Setup is inspecing computer hardware" After about a min of this message the computer restarts itself. Um... WTF?

I just reformated HDD using my computer so i know its clean.
It passed WD's diagnostic tools test...

Why does it suddenly restart?

 

[leegroves86]

UPADATE:

I put in MY "normal" (non dell) XP CD and it boots to the windows setup menu just fine. So why does my disc work and not his? His cd is slightly scratched but it doesn't look nearly bad enough to hurt

Help appreciated

 

[Bozo Galora]

By formatting, you lost all dell automated reinstall

 

[leegroves86]

well thats a good point. Didn't know it had it though. Guess i'm not use to it. But its in the past, what now?

My xp CD seems to work perfect. Why does his make computer restart?

 

[Bozo Galora]

The Dell recov CD INTERACTS with the HDD auto run stuff. There is nothing to interact with any more - you erased it.

Redoing a Dell is quicksand if you dont know whats going on. Not only that, the methods they used to facilitate the auto recovery has changed over time as well.
There used to be three levels of recov, they used to include CD copy of XP, they created hidden partitions, set asides for drivers in HDD space allocation, Ghost type images.

Trust me, buy a new Seagate HDD from hot deals forum for $50, and start fresh. This means you will have to find out all hardware and get drivers from dell or the internet.
This will prevent "strange things" happening in the future.

Edit:
There is also dell forums.
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums

 

[leegroves86]

Well, that wouldn't be a problem except this is all legit. This is the ORIGINAL recovery CD, from THIS dell pc, not a different one. I can't figure out why it restarts. Perhaps the CD is too scratched??? for pete's sake this is a dell, granny can reinstall windows on one of these.

I have an extra HDD but to pay for XP on a computer worth less than OS is crazy, especially since what i'm doing is totally legal

 

[Bozo Galora]

You posted while I was editing my post above, please read first line

http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/recreate.htm
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/index.htm

Edit: If you are sure its CD scratches - buy one of those hand cranked CD polishers.- they work quite well.