Help needed installing windows xp

R

railway0

New Member
Please can anyone help.
My friend asked me to reinstall windows xp for her as she wanted a bigger hard drive.
The problem is that when I get as far as windows rebooting stage, the screen goes Black and after a few minutes setup starts again instead of it going on to Final set up.

Computer is a Exacta 900mhz 256 RAM 40gb Hard drive.

I have tried other memory and another hard drive without any success.
Any advise will be most welcome.
 
I'm not sure mate but if i was you i would try putting more RAM in it and if you using a Pirate version of XP try finding another pirated XP version:confused:
 
i would FDISK the machine if the HDD is new then create a pri dos partition check the integ check on start and finish as it will do it twice make sure it doesnt drop if it does the HDD is faulty if not then format the partition then check the progress doesnt drop again same again if drops its faulty if not reboot and install XP again should now work,

FDISK is easy u will need to put this on floppy or cd

u can download the FDISK utility off the internet.

PM if u have any problems
 
Does it ask Hit any key to start from cd... (or somethink like that)?
If not, that might be because it starting from cd right away, hence starting new installation.
You may try and remove cd from cdrom after firs stage (copying files to cd) of installation.
If no, you may remove cd from cdrom after first stage.
 
It's sounds like it's installing through the windows way. So in other words, the drive hasn't been reformatted or anything. I'll give you steps to do it without it giving you a headache.

When you boot up your computer, enter BIOS and change your boot priorites to make your CD/DVD-rom boot first.

Then restart and let it go through BIOS, it sound ask you to press any key to boot from the CD. Do so.

Then all you have to do is follow the prompts, but here are the things you must do.

Delete your partitions on your hard drive, and repartition it. Reformat it. then install.

You'll be safe after that.

Good luck.
 
I have tried adding more RAM, and it is an original windows disc.

The hard drive is not new, it is a spare one that I have.


No it does not ask you to hit any key when it restarts it just restarts on it's own.


I will go and try what DanDaMan and Schoning 16 have advised I will let you know as soon as I have done this.
Cheers!!!
 
schoning16 said:
It's sounds like it's installing through the windows way. So in other words, the drive hasn't been reformatted or anything. I'll give you steps to do it without it giving you a headache.

When you boot up your computer, enter BIOS and change your boot priorites to make your CD/DVD-rom boot first.

Then restart and let it go through BIOS, it sound ask you to press any key to boot from the CD. Do so.

Then all you have to do is follow the prompts, but here are the things you must do.

Delete your partitions on your hard drive, and repartition it. Reformat it. then install.

You'll be safe after that.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I have tried the above and still the same.
I unable to change the Bios boot order as there is no option to change it.
It does not say press any key to boot from cd it just does it.
I did get as far as deleting the partition and then when, windows reboots it starts again as I said in the previous post.
It also seem to take ages before it gets going with the installation it is running very slow. The screen is black most of the time.
 
Check again BIOS settings. I think you should have this setting 100%.
Look for something like Boot Order or similar.
 
I have been into Bios setting lots of times and there is no option to change it.

My daughter has just had a look and she could see no way to change it either.
It does have a boot order but no options to change it.
 
Have you tried taking out the XP cd after the first restart, you have to pop it out as soon as it starts restarting, it should boot to the harddrive then ask to insert the cd again, if that works you will have to take it out after every restart till the install is finished!
But you really should be able to change your boot order in the bios. Now some older M/B if you set it to boot from the cd it would boot to the cd no matter what, so after the first reboot you had go back into the bios and change it back to the harddrive to finish the install or you get the boot loop!
 
I have just done as StrangleHold suggested as soon as the computer started to re start I took out the cd and after a while I got these errors.

PXE-E61: Media test failure check cable.
PXE-MOF: exiting intel PXE Rom.
Boot failure: System Halted.

It never asked to insert the cd again.
Is this any help in trying to resolve this problem that I have.
 
It looks like it's trying boot from the network.

Try disable network card in BIOS if you don't have that option load Default settings (don't forget to save after :) )

If you have integrated network card you should be able to disable it by setting jumpers on mobo.

And try installtion again (with taking out cd).

Check your HD connections, HD cable and HD itself (no pin bent or something).
 
Last edited:
subtle said:
It looks like it's trying boot from the network.

if you have integrated network card you should be able to disable it by setting jumpers on mobo.

And try installtion again (with taking out cd).
Click to expand...

Not sure how to do this, can anyone guide me.
Thanks
 
What mobo have you got in there?
Look for jumpers (there should be some description next to jumpers) find the one for NIC and set to disable.
Try in the mobo manual if you got it.
 
I have changed the Bios setting at last I got into it by taking out the battery, not a good way but it worked.:)

It is still restarting installation when the pc reboots.:confused: :confused:

The motherboard is a Intel Desktop Board
D815EFV/D815EPFV (well that is what is says on the board.)
 
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