XP Installations. Big problems.

[SE14man]

Hi there,

Been trying to install xp on the downstairs PC now for ages.

I have tried 4 different DVD drives, 3 different hard drives, 6 different windows xp cd's and 2 PSU's.
It's getting to the part where it's copying files and always says could not copy such and such a file (it's a different file each time!) press 'enter' to rety or ESC to skip. Basically i press escape and i end up having to skip about 40 or so files by whicvh time it's pointless installing it anyway!

Have tried many variations of RAM also

I hqve tried optimised defaults in BIOS, fail safe defaults have even done a BIOS fkash but no success.

Anyone else familar with this problem or know a way round it?

Have also tried external DVD drive...still same problem.

Cheers.

[freebird73717]

Possible failing or corrupt hard drive. Do you have an extra one you can replace it with?

[vcd4ever]

Anyone else familar with this problem

This has also happend to me when trying to install Win95, Win98 and WinXP.

or know a way round it?

Copy all the files from the installation CD to the HDD and then install from DOS.


vcd4ever.

[victoriabears]

All I can suggest is that the hard drives is not formatting properly, so that means the internal cables might be badly connected or even corrupt, something is happening to create a corrupt environment.

As you are using the same motherboard / memory etc , For all the time you have spent, a new pc might be easier !

What spec is the downstairs pc

[bendixG15]

Suggest that you run memtest86 to test your memory stick and motheboard memory slot.
Bad memory/slot will corrupt files.

[classfour]

On every clean installation that I have had success with: I formatted the hard drive. It does not matter what the operating system is.

Yes, I typically have to remove the hard drive, connect with an adapter (IDE or SATA) and format from another machine.

This will usually prevent OS installation failures.

[DarrellS]

I had the same problem last week trying to load windows XP on my PC in the other room.

I hadn't used in three or four months and when I tried to start it, it was stuck in a loop and would not start Windows. I decided to do a repair from the CD and it gave me an error stating it was missing a win32 file and that the HDD could be corrupt. I took another known good drive and tried it but I got the same error message. That seemed very strange so I put the drive in my external HDD enclosure and hooked it to my main PC and reformatted the drive. Stuck the reformatted drive into the old PC and it installed XP without a hitch.


EDIT: The reason that I had to use my main PC to reformat was because it would not format from the CD. That's where I kept kepting the corrupt HDD message.

[SLK001]

On every clean installation that I have had success with: I formatted the hard drive. It does not matter what the operating system is.

Yes, I typically have to remove the hard drive, connect with an adapter (IDE or SATA) and format from another machine.

This will usually prevent OS installation failures.

Removing a HD like you did is not necessary. Just boot from the CD and it will ask you if you want to format/partition the drive currently in your machine.

I've always had problems with the so called "upgrading" process from a previous OS with Windows, so I always do a complete fresh install.

[classfour]

SLK001: Just an FYI: sometimes I connect to a drive via a USB interconnect - leaving it within the case. If it's in a laptop - it comes out.

[wulf109]

The only time I've had this happen it turned out to be I was overclocking and had to drop back to default CPU speed to install a fresh copy of XP after booting from CD and formatting from the install CD.

[DarrellS]

Removing a HD like you did is not necessary. Just boot from the CD and it will ask you if you want to format/partition the drive currently in your machine.

I've always had problems with the so called "upgrading" process from a previous OS with Windows, so I always do a complete fresh install.

In my case, removing the drive was necessary because it would not format from the install CD. I had to connect the drive to another PC running XP for it to format the drive.

[wulf109]

Did you use the option to delete the partition before formatting? Formatting will often fail in XP if you format over an existing partition that's corrupted.

[DarrellS]

Did you use the option to delete the partition before formatting? Formatting will often fail in XP if you format over an existing partition that's corrupted.

Yes, it told me it could not delete the partition because it was corrupt or damaged. It told me this on both drives. I don't know why. It probably would've given me the same errors if I had tried another drive I had laying around. After formatting in the other PC it loaded windows with no problems.

Sorry, I misread your post. No. I did not. I knew there was nothing wrong with the drive. The CD just refused to do anything without the drive being empty.

[SE14man]

Hi there,

Thanks for all your useful replies!

How would i copy all the files from the installation CD to the HDD and then install from DOS? Isn't there a registry that has to be put on somehow also? Is there a guide as to how i would do this exactly?

I tried memtest86 and all tests passed fine.. Well i came in an hour later and it said tests have passed.

I forgot to add earlier. I did actually go out and buy a Seagate 300GB SATA hard disk drive. Brand new. Unformatted and tried installing windowso n that also. It had to format it too which i let it do a long format.

I do like the idea of the 'installing from DOS' thing but just wondering how this would be done?
Or better sitll i'd like it to just work the standard way of course!

I did change IDE cables when using IDE drives and also SATA cables when using SATA drives. No luck!

Specs of the downstairs PC are:

Intel P4, 3 Ghz & 1 GB RAM. Uses a 'Gigabyte' motherboard & graphics card.

I have taken all of these hard drives out (which i have attempted to install windows on) i must admit there are a few that wont format properlyo n this PC (as a slave) it just comes up with an Error in partition magic and even disk management wont format it either. I am going via USB though with one of those 'Drive Mate' SATA/IDE to USB things though was wondering if that wouldnt help????

Thanks people.

[lacywest]

I've had this 80GB PATA drive for awhile now ... still behaves okay but on the system it was on ... SMART ... was telling me it was in sad shape and was going to fail soon ... and then to continue to load Windows XP to the desktop ... I had to press F1 to continue.

Using HDD Observer ... the info said it was good but it had over 500 days on it.

Well the CPU in it was a 89 watt AMD 939 X2 ... and I decided to go Green and make some changes.

So I redid a new setup and was going to squeeze some more life out of that "bad drive".

I was going to do a Dual Boot with Windows 7 ... XP installed just fine but ... Windows 7 ... said ... NO ... the drive was going to fail soon.

WOW !! .... well ... I didn't get to use that drive ... after all

[SE14man]

Thats really wierd innit! I wonder what's more honest, 7 or xp? hehe

Btw whats 7 meant to be like? Is it a lot more better than vista do people prefer it to XP if so, why?

Am i right to be doing al;l this formatting and partition deleting etc on this slave drive with it being plugged in via usb?

Because every format is failing at 99%!

Cheers.

[fritzi93]

I always do a full format and partitioning first via disk management in administrative tools in XP on my own machines. (I multi-boot from different drives). Delete all partitions first, burn it all down and start from a raw drive using the wizard to partition/format. Never had the OP's problem. One could always boot from an emergency boot disc or similar to do the format if necessary. Not sure I'd trust third-party format/partitioning tools.

As to S.M.A.R.T., it's not infallible. Just last month I got a call to fix a computer, the user was getting a warning about imminent hard drive failure. Ran SpeedFan and did the online analysis, which told me the same thing. Backed up files to an external and put in another hard drive. Full format and cloned the original, ran sfc on the clone, etc. Completed okay. Then did a full format on the original.

Ran SpeedFan again, and it said, to paraphrase from memory: Well this is surprising. The drive has in the past been below critical thresholds but now appears to be okay.

Which didn't surprise me much, *sometimes* a full format does wonders.

Can't say exactly why there was corruption, but it was a "old" install, the user didn't do regular maintenance, there was malware on it, there was faulty hardware attached (a dying scanner), and generally it was junked up. So I cleaned it up as best I could (the cloned drive), junked the scanner, did all usual maintenance and updates, file check again, copied back files. Computer ran pretty snappy again, so I decided not to restore install with all the time and crapware that entails. Recloned to original. He now has a clone drive he can boot to if necessary.

Something's very wrong if several drives fail to complete formatting via disk management. One maybe. Are you deleting partitions/drives before trying to format?

[SLK001]

How would i copy all the files from the installation CD to the HDD and then install from DOS? Isn't there a registry that has to be put on somehow also? Is there a guide as to how i would do this exactly?

Do NOT do it this way (it won't work this way). If you have a legit installation CD, set your computer to boot from a CD and boot up using the install CD. The CD will load a small kernel and allow you to install XP. This is the shortest, easiest way to install XP, next to imaging.

[Nelson37]

Do NOT use partition magic, do NOT use some funky USB adapter, and for crying out loud, do NOT format or attempt install on a SLAVE drive.

You could have a problem with partition magic, the funky USB adapter, or the Master/slave issue. These can be eliminated, the first step in solving a problem is to eliminate unnecessary complications.

One drive in system, alone on the cable. Use Windows to partition and format, unless you are installing some other OS, in which case use THAT to partition and format. Partition Magic is for emergency use only, not for operations you want to last a long time.

Also, describe the "unformat" procedure and your reasons for doing so. Have NEVER needed to do any such thing on a new drive. Have you done this to EVERY drive that has failed?

Whatever it is that you are doing EVERY time, something is wrong and your procedure needs to be changed.

[AlanHK]

How would i copy all the files from the installation CD to the HDD and then install from DOS? Isn't there a registry that has to be put on somehow also? Is there a guide as to how i would do this exactly?

Do NOT do it this way (it won't work this way).

Really? Why not? Works for me.

[budz]

IMHO delete the partitions before formatting is always a must which is easy to do with the xp disc. Or try making a copy of that xp disc on another cd/dvd. Then try using the newly burned xp disc.

[lacywest]

Thats really wierd innit! I wonder what's more honest, 7 or xp? hehe

Btw whats 7 meant to be like? Is it a lot more better than vista do people prefer it to XP if so, why?
Cheers.

I like using the Quick Launch on XP and by default ... WIN 7 ... does not include it [on the taskbar] ... so it takes a few moments to have one to use.
I have several special folders pre-constructed to make re-building PCs easy ... on my 500GB USB drives. So it is just a matter of clicking the Quick Launch icon in my special folders and opening/exploring the Quick Launch folder in WIN 7. And after that it is fairly easy to create a Quick Launch feature on the WIN 7 taskbar.

I like the Media Center on Win 7 ... lots of nice features ... Net Flix is there to be used.

I use the Media Center in WIN7 to record TV shows in my area with the antenna I have on my roof.

[GKar]

Hi there,

Been trying to install xp on the downstairs PC now for ages.

I have tried 4 different DVD drives, 3 different hard drives, 6 different windows xp cd's and 2 PSU's.
It's getting to the part where it's copying files and always says could not copy such and such a file (it's a different file each time!) press 'enter' to rety or ESC to skip. Basically i press escape and i end up having to skip about 40 or so files by whicvh time it's pointless installing it anyway!

Have tried many variations of RAM also

I hqve tried optimised defaults in BIOS, fail safe defaults have even done a BIOS fkash but no success.

Anyone else familar with this problem or know a way round it?

Have also tried external DVD drive...still same problem.

Cheers.

I guess the only conclusion is your MB/CPU combo isn't XP compatible.

[lacywest]

Thats really wierd innit! I wonder what's more honest, 7 or xp? hehe

Btw whats 7 meant to be like? Is it a lot more better than vista do people prefer it to XP if so, why?

Am i right to be doing al;l this formatting and partition deleting etc on this slave drive with it being plugged in via usb?

Because every format is failing at 99%!

Cheers.

You just said alot of what might be going wrong ... how about making it the master drive and connect it using regular 80 PIN IDE ribbon cable ... this is for a PATA drive ... not a SATA drive.

And then try installing XP.