XP will not install...

Published on March 11, 2005 By Koasati In Windows XP

My wife is trying to install XP on daughters machine. She's having problems, so now I'm involved also.

It's a PII 500MHz, 640MB RAM. I've had XP on a slower machine, so this should work. The trouble is, everytime we get to the screen that says "Press ENTER to install XP", we press enter, and the computer reboots. It's an endless loop. We have removed all cards except video, changed HardDrive, changed CD ROM, reset CMOS, reset BIOS, and a few things I don't remember...... nothing makes any difference.
I don't know what info may or may not be important, so here's what we're working with.......
Jetway 693AS motherboard, Pheonix BIOS. SIS 6326 8M AGP video. Western Digital HD.

Any suggestions? Do I need to supply more info? (just let me know what)
Thanks in advanced.....

Comments (Page 1)

yrag

on Mar 11, 2005

Try it using another keyboard.

Double Zero

on Mar 11, 2005

Koasati, Did you use the Data Life Guard tools from WD to set up your HD? I dont know if it will help, but it is something you can try. Heres the link in case you dont have them Link

Zero.

Double Zero

on Mar 11, 2005

UMM..LoL..on 2cnd thought, this disk has the lifeguard tools on it as well as a few other things that might help Link

Hope it helps,
Zero.

Koasati

on Mar 11, 2005

Different keyboard didn't help.

Checking out the link DZ.

Corky_O

on Mar 12, 2005

Even though that machine is a bit old, I would agree that you should be able to install XP.

Suggestions:

If the old drive was working fine, I would reinstall everything to bring computer back to where it originally was, then boot up on that drive to verify it works and your cables are still communicating with the MoBo.

If all is well, run the Upgrade Advisor from the XP disc and see if you have any driver or hardware issues you need to download and install previous to attempting install again.

Then do the old Boot sequence set-up in BIOS so CD is first and Hardrive is last, clean CD surface with a soft rag and insert CD, reboot from disc.

If you still have a problem and you have another XP disc around, try that one just to see if you can get an installation to the Hard Drive. If so, then = Bad XP disc. Return for a good one.

It sounds like either incompatible hardware or drivers somewhere, or a bad XP disc to me.

Will check around for more info.

Double Zero

on Mar 12, 2005

""Then do the old Boot sequence set-up in BIOS so CD is first and Hardrive is last, clean CD surface with a soft rag and insert CD, reboot from disc.""

I forgot about that Corky, but I am sure Koasati had that figured out. But you know, if you do not have the boot order arranged properly it will just restart..LoL..

Corky_O

on Mar 12, 2005

Yeah, through that in just in case, DZ.

Here is the only thing I found that resembled your issue, Koasati. Link

I have to sleep, it's an early start for work tomorrow.

Will check on your progress tomorrow.

Good luck

kona0197

on Mar 12, 2005

Hmm - didn't know the Pentium 2 came in a 500 mhz flavor. Learn something new everyday!

Double Zero

on Mar 12, 2005

That was helpful Kona..
I suppose that the frustration of other issues would not allow for any slack in that area..I guess that must be the whole problem..

Koasati..stop forgetting to add that extra "I" then XP will install perfectly..according to Kona..::nods::

Sheesh, Why didnt I think of that..it's all to simple..

::Sighs::

kona0197

on Mar 12, 2005

Koasati..stop forgetting to add that extra "I" then XP will install perfectly..according to Kona..::nods::

I don't get your joke - I didn't use a "I" anywhere in my previous post. So what are you talking about?

mswaim

on Mar 12, 2005

I had a problem like that sometime ago, it turned out it was my PCI nvidia card.

I don't recall the model number, but there were other video card manufactures and models that had similar problems. Every time I needed to reinstall XP I had to swap out the video card with an old one. Once installed, I could plug my nvidia card back in and the machine would work great.

This may not solve your problem and I can not locate the link I found the information on so I can not go into specifics on the problem. Perhaps this will give you another path for investigation, though.

kingbee

on Mar 12, 2005

ya know how some people are naturally immune to horrible diseases like plague, typhoid, hepatitis, etc? maybe you're just fortunate enough to have a system with a natural immunity to operating systems created by a corporation which--as a final resort against just the situation you've described--has nothing better to offer than 'if nothing else works, uninstall everything but the video card and a harddrive'.

MikeB314

on Mar 12, 2005

I had a similar problem with an old computer when XP first came out. My last resort solution was to install Windows2000 on it, then upgrade it to XP.

Koasati

on Mar 12, 2005

oops!... The wife told me it was a PII, and I thought nothing of it, but I find out this morning it's a Celeron.... sorry 'bout that.

Anyway..... thanks for all the suggestions. We think we've narrowed it down to the motherboard. It appears to be headed south.

Jafo

on Mar 12, 2005

Randy...try copying the i386 folder contents from the CD to the HD...and install from there.

It'll remove the CDRom from the equation....[as a fault source]....

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