win xp

[clipper1971]

Hi

When i try to setup winxp home or pro,i get the first blue screen that installs the drivers,but when it restarts and i try to continue with the install my system hangs and nothing happens.What am i doing wrong or is there some settings i need to change.

I am currently running win98se with 2 hdd have tried upgrade and clean install with winxp pro,and clean install(no upgrade option) with winxp home

Please help.

[Hardcoreruss]

What are the specifications of your pc.

Have your formatted your master hdd

[doom969]

If you have a raid or pci IDE controller, you may need to hit F6, and add the drivers from a floppy (winXP doesnt have the driver of all the external controller ex.: promise fasttrak, adaptec highpoint, etc...)

Also, be sure your BIOS as detected the drives, if it hasnt then u have to do this before you install WinXP
__________
d0oM969

[clipper1971]

where would i find said drivers?
for the pci ide controller?

[jdizzy40]

Disconnect all harddrives except the one you are loading windows on. This should solve your problem. If there is any resident windows files on second hard drive it hangs during startup (i.e. loading windows). Once you get your OS loaded then hookup the second drive after shut down. Restart and your second drive will be detected. I've troublshooted this problem on several systems that have been brought into the shop by people trying to do a re-install. Word to the wise, when reloading windows, unplug any extra harddrives except for boot, any PCI cards, other than video,sound, modem, lan. Load other devices, controller cards, tv tuners etc. after windows is up and running. Hope this works.

[doom969]

@clipper1971

Do you actually have a raid or external controller ?
if yes, give me the brand name and/or model an i'll point the drivers to you...
________________
d0oM969

[jdizzy40]

The system is not hanging due to a raid controller on-board or otherwise. Disconnect the 2nd hard drive from the system. Boot with only the one. Windows will install fine if you follow my directions. I do this for a living, trust me. People are trying to overcomplicate your issue and getting you more confused. You said you have two hard drives hooked up right? Disconnect the one and try reloading the process again. I doubt that you have a raid controller anyway, since number 1 its probally an OEM computer and 2 you never mentioned any warning message referring to raid.

[fatbloke]

a simple question jdizzy, i've 3 hard drives on my system, two have operating systems on them, (both xp pro) the older one i don't boot up with and have basically left the files on the drive, will this affect the speed with which the system boots as now mine is very slow, even after using tools like bootvis. Any ideas seeing as you do this for a living.

[doom969]

@jdizzy40
1) I am not trying to overcomplicate i'm simply trying to help.

2) If there was a raid controller it would not give an error message at this point

3) I had exactly this problem and thats how I solve it

@clipper1971

If you find the problem , i'd appreciate if you post back how you fixed it.

[rkr1958]

1) I'm too am planning to install the XP upgrade, I'm currently running W98SE with two hard-drives, DVD-ROM and Sony DRU-500a DVD+/-RW. I plan to do a clean install of XP on a third hard-drive that I wish to add to my system.

2) If I follow you jdizzy40, then you recommend that I disconnect all but one hard-drive, take out my PCI IDE controller card and my PCI firewire card. I can leave my PCI modem and LAN cards in, as well as my AGP 4x graphics card. If not, please correct.

3) I plan to put each of the three harddives alone on its own IDE channel. The c-drive as the primary to the mother-board and the other two as primary and secondary to the PCI IDE controller card. I plan to put the Sony DRU-500a as master and the DVD-ROM as slave on the secondary IDE controller card to the motherboard. Any comments / recommendations here?

4) My c-drive will be 60-GB and the other two harddives are 120-GB and 45-GB. Concerning my c-drive, should I partition it for OS and programs files (in the c or main partition) and data (ect) in the second partition. If so, what are suggestions for the two partition sizes?

5) Does anyone have any other things I should look out or prepare for?

[jdizzy40]

Everything you said in your post is correct. As far as size of partion for OS. Thats up to you. I usually split mine in half. Since its an upgrade instead of a full version I would of recommended a different approach. Just do what you outlined in your post and all should go well. Good luck!

[jdizzy40]

Hold up I just read your post about installing XP i.e. a clean install on another drive. The upgrade will only install to the drive which contains your boot win 98 operating system. You have to remember the upgrade is not like a full version.

[rkr1958]

Hold up I just read your post about installing XP i.e. a clean install on another drive. The upgrade will only install to the drive which contains your boot win 98 operating system. You have to remember the upgrade is not like a full version.

My understanding (and I certainly may be wrong) is that you can do a clean install from an XP upgrade CD. The upgrade will ask you to insert your W98SE CD to verify that you are entitled to an upgrade. I have my W98SE CD and S/N. Is this not correct?

[jdizzy40]

Sorry I misunderstood you. Too many things going on here. Yes It will ask for the 98 CD and verification. Follow the directions from there.

[tww1]

Sorry you caint up grade to XP Pro useing the 98 se cd have to use ME if doing XP pro. You can up grade to XP Hame from 98 or 98se.

[rkr1958]

Sorry you caint up grade to XP Pro useing the 98 se cd have to use ME if doing XP pro. You can up grade to XP Hame from 98 or 98se.

XP Home is what I bought. Thanks for the info.

jdizzy40, Thanks for the help.

[jdizzy40]

You're welcome, help all goes well. Just remember everthing in life can be ultimately fixed. Sometimes it just takes the longer route. Cheers!

[rkr1958]

I opted to upgrade to Win2000 Pro instead of XP based on advice from people I work with. I also added a third harddrive which gives me 225-GB total. The upgrade went smoother than I though it would. However, I've been working on since Saturday. I got a two year old and it interesting when he hits the power button in the middle of something. Anyway, I've reloaded most of my software. I sure like NTFS over FAT32. It's nice not to be limited by 4-GB file size and not to have the W98SE bug where you can't copy or move a file larger than 2-GB in Windows. You have to do that copy in DOS.