windows XP home install Stalled!!!!

ach52

Junior Member
Jun 28, 2005
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Have built a new system for my daughter for college. Tried to install XP w/sp2 OEM. Have installed several times but had trouble with HD (bad). Purchased new WD 160gig. installed with no problems. Next install occured because of driver glitches tried repair with cd but hung up at the 9 min. mark tried this several times with the exact same result.
Can any one help the second summer session starts in a couple of weeks?

Thanks,
ach52,
desperate in NJ
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
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1) if the WD hard drive is on a data cable all by itself, then its jumper pins should be bare, no jumper cap on them at all. That's the Single Drive setting, it's different from Master or Slave, and WD drives like that.

2) please post complete spec info. You don't have to go wild but give brands and models of the power supply, the motherboard, all cards and all drives, and the memory modules.

This really fits Technical Support better than Operating Systems, but hey. :)
 

ach52

Junior Member
Jun 28, 2005
7
0
0
The HD isset as master & the cd-rom is set as slave. Jumpers and cable positions are correct.

MOBO - Pcchips m811lu
CPU - AMD DURON 1.8gz
Memory - 2X 256mb ultra 2100 ddr
On Board - lan, sound
PSU - 400 watt (manu. unk.)
Video - Volari v3 AGP
Hd - Western Digital 160 gig
CD-RW - Samsung (oem)

This all worked at one point, until I tried to upgrade drivers. Should have listened to my own advice, "If it's not broken, DON'T fix it"
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
1
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If I understand correctly, it's the repair-type install that keeps hanging up. Before you go any further, can you do this:

1) Rescue your important stuff first Take the hard drive out of the computer and put it into a different computer to rescue your stuff off of it. To do that, you'll need a computer that has Win2000 or WinXP so it can read the NTFS file system (assuming your 160GB is using NTFS format and not FAT32). You'll also need to take NTFS Ownership of the 160GB drive's \Documents and Settings\username folder before you'll be allowed inside.

To take NTFS Ownership, you will need to right-click the \Documents and Settings\username directory, choose Properties, then the Security tab, then click the Advanced button and go to the Ownership tab (illustration of this).

Give Ownership to an account on the computer you're using to do the rescue, put a checkmark in the box for "replace owner yadda yadda," and click OK. Now you will be able to get into that folder to rescue stuff, using the account you gave Ownership to.

If you are using a WindowsXP computer to do the rescue, then in order to even see the Security tab, boot that computer up in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key repeatedly when you know the first WinXP boot screen is about to show, the one with the scrollie bar thing.

Are we all :confused: yet? :D

After doing the rescue, I would think real hard about whether I got EVERYTHING (Favorites and whatnot), then put the 160GB drive back into its home system, start a full-meal-deal Windows XP setup, not the repair style, and see what happens.

(Tip: when you start WindowsXP Setup, get to where you see the partitions, delete them all, then exit Windows Setup by pressing the F3 key twice. After that, start Windows Setup a second time and this time keep on going. This little extra step will keep you from having two WinXP's to choose from at startup.)

If it still doesn't work, then it may be a hardware issue. You could try using just one memory module at a time, and maybe a different low-power-draw video card if you have one. Volari's are not the most common thing in the world, so do you maybe have an old GeForce-series card you could slap in there? Or a Radeon-series card?

Just to make sure I got this right: the WD is the Master and the CD drive is the Slave on the same cable. Is that correct? Try putting the WD into Single Drive mode by pulling its jumper off its pins, then give it its very own cable. Put the CD drive on a different cable. Whether it's the source of the problem or not, it should help performance a bit.

Good luck and welcome to the Forums :)
 

ach52

Junior Member
Jun 28, 2005
7
0
0
Thanks for the help. Basically, it boiled down to two things, my ethernet was connected and my USB HD was connected I was not using either of these when I had successfully installed XP the first time. Again thanks for the help. By the way, this is not a system I would even think of overclocking.