So my friend has a DELL Optiplex 170L, it's about few years old. The computer wasn't able to start windows for some reason. I tried booting it from my Windows XP disc, and that didn't work either. We tried to do the DELL Restore, and that didn't work. So now we decided to go ahead and erase the HD and do a clean re-install, but that's not working either. It just freezes when Windows Setup says, "39 minutes left." What could be the problem here? How can I get Windows XP to re-install? I also noticed that the computer runs very slow during the setup process.
Can't re-install Windows XP.
- Thread starter cg1349
- Start date
PohTayToez
Active Member
Are you doing a full or quick format? Sounds like there might be some problems with the hard drive... a full format MIGHT fix it.
I'm trying to get back to the DOS like console so that I can do a full format, but everytime I turn the computer back on it just goes back to the setup process. Also, the mouse and keyboard don't work. How can I go back to do a full format?
Hello,
This is Richard fro Dell's Online Community Outreach. I read your post and wanted to respond and hopefully help you out.
Any time I perform a reinstall I always debug the hard drive, which deletes everything. It helps to create a fresh start for a reinstall. You can Google "debug hard drive" and lots of information on how to do that..
If you just want to get back to reinstalling Windows and restart what you started, do the following. Power on the computer and right away press F12. This will allow you to select cdrom for the system to boot from, instead of first hitting the hard drive, which is why the current installation keeps coming back up.
Finally, you may want to consider running a diagnostics on the hard drive before processing a Windows reinstall.
Good luck to you!
Regards,
Richard B
Dell Online Community Outreach
I have a similar problem:
Had Vista since January, and generally wasn't too worried about it's incompatability with some programs, as with most cases there was a way to get around it. Like most people, I think time simply took it's toll, and I am simply fed up with it, wanting to revert back to XP.
I tried initially just booting from my XP disc so I could use the built in partition manager to format my HDD, only of course came to realise this wouldn't be possible. So I set out for means to do it another way. I cam across Ultimate Boot CD, which I downloaded, wrote onto a disc, and formatted my HDD with, using the inbuilt HDD manager.
After the full format, I ran a full diagnostic, checking for HDD surface problems, as well as problems with the partitions I had made (I made partitions on my second attempt of a Windows XP install, after the first attempt from the full format turned up nothing. Incase it helps, I formatted with NTFS). This diagnostic turned up clean.
Even though I carried out all of the above, and have attempted it all 3 times now (re-installing Vista after every reoccurance ¬_¬ ), I still cannot get past the intial loading screen of the XP boot disc. When it has loaded all the files, and says 'Setup is starting windows', after about a 10 second wait, the dreaded dark blue screen appears, with white writing, stating a critical error has occured, and windows must shut down in order to prevent my computer from being damaged.
I also highly doubt that it is the disc that harbours a problem, since I have tried this with both my XP Home and XP Pro edition discs.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated - I just really want my XP back. Thanks.
Had Vista since January, and generally wasn't too worried about it's incompatability with some programs, as with most cases there was a way to get around it. Like most people, I think time simply took it's toll, and I am simply fed up with it, wanting to revert back to XP.
I tried initially just booting from my XP disc so I could use the built in partition manager to format my HDD, only of course came to realise this wouldn't be possible. So I set out for means to do it another way. I cam across Ultimate Boot CD, which I downloaded, wrote onto a disc, and formatted my HDD with, using the inbuilt HDD manager.
After the full format, I ran a full diagnostic, checking for HDD surface problems, as well as problems with the partitions I had made (I made partitions on my second attempt of a Windows XP install, after the first attempt from the full format turned up nothing. Incase it helps, I formatted with NTFS). This diagnostic turned up clean.
Even though I carried out all of the above, and have attempted it all 3 times now (re-installing Vista after every reoccurance ¬_¬ ), I still cannot get past the intial loading screen of the XP boot disc. When it has loaded all the files, and says 'Setup is starting windows', after about a 10 second wait, the dreaded dark blue screen appears, with white writing, stating a critical error has occured, and windows must shut down in order to prevent my computer from being damaged.
I also highly doubt that it is the disc that harbours a problem, since I have tried this with both my XP Home and XP Pro edition discs.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated - I just really want my XP back. Thanks.
Hello again,
There may be a bios setting that is not quite right for the installation to process properly. Enter the bios by pressing F2 as soon as the computer turns on. You will then be in the bois; go ahead and press ALT+F to reset the factory defaults. While inside of the bios, make a note of the bios version and see if there is an update. Go here to check for updates, http://support.dell.com/support/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn.
Regards,
Richard B
Dell Online Community Outreach
There may be a bios setting that is not quite right for the installation to process properly. Enter the bios by pressing F2 as soon as the computer turns on. You will then be in the bois; go ahead and press ALT+F to reset the factory defaults. While inside of the bios, make a note of the bios version and see if there is an update. Go here to check for updates, http://support.dell.com/support/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn.
Regards,
Richard B
Dell Online Community Outreach
I apologize, my system isn't a Dell. Appreciate the help, but afraid I have a HP 
I've been talking to some people, and one thing they came up with is a problem with the memory, something to do with RAID drivers. If this rings a bell with anyone, I'd be extremely grateful to hear a solution. Thanks
I've been talking to some people, and one thing they came up with is a problem with the memory, something to do with RAID drivers. If this rings a bell with anyone, I'd be extremely grateful to hear a solution. Thanks