Windows XP pro install help

E

Eclips3d

New Member
I just built my new computer and am currently trying to install windows XP. After formatting my drive and going past what I would call the first phase of the install it goes to the screen where it says "computer will reboot in 15 seconds" "install will continue after restart". So it restarts, but does not continue with the install. At this point Im lost so any help is appreciated.

Specs:
Gigabyte ds3l board
c2d e6750
WD sata 3.0gb 320g HDD
 
Do not press any key when it says press any key to boot from CD after it says it will restart.
Make sure you got your Boot sequence #2 configured to boot from the drive you are installing windows on.
 
The first mistake typically made is setting the optical drive as the first and often only device in the boot order menu found in the bios. Even if you have hard drive enablied with more then one hard drive installed the one with Windows seeing the initial setup files may not be at the top of the HD list making that the default drive there.

The F8 boot device menu is one option on many board were you set the OS drive as the default and use the one session only boot with the optical by way of the F8 menu for seeing the installer copy all necessary files onto the drive. When rebooting the hard drive is then the boot device automatically seen by the bios.

Change the first to hard drive and disable the rest to force the boot from the hard drive and look in the manu for setting default boot device order in the bios.
 
I made the hard drive the only boot device, and took my windows cd out. Upon startup it goes to the gigabyte screen, then a list of PCI devices and then restarts into a loop. hmm
 
Is your drive seen in the list of devices detected on the post screen? If this is being seen on a new build it's possible the data if plugged in? unless forgotten or power plug is bad or left off. If you are seeing the drive at post time that would be ruled out and a need to review the boot order comes in.

If you have more then one hard drive the key is to go into the boot or hoot order section seen in the bios setup. Once you scroll down to hard drives and highlight that press the enter key. This will bring up the list of drives installed if they are detected where you then use the information seen to the far right like - and + keys on the numpad to rearrange the order of drives bringing that one to the top.

From there simply exit the bios with the F10 key or press ESC and then select the exit and save option to save the change made. The system will then restart.

If the drive or cable is no good that would also explain the lack of a boot device found seeing a restart. But you saw all setup files copied showing the drive works. It sounds like a boot configuration problem more then anything else there since the Windows setup restarted the system for you after completing that stage.
 
I believe it is detecting the drive during post screen. Although it only flashes for about a second I do see my Lite-on drive, and then the harddrrive. My drive is the first (and only) boot drive and I only have a single sata hdd. It is still just going through the reboot cycle after the gigabyte,post,then PCI device listing screen.
 
How long have you been running the system there? One thing that will start to give "hints" when it is about to quit is the battery on the board itself. You can see all kinds of mysteries like sudden restarts out of nowhere, Hardware detection suffers, and even problems seen at startup until one day nothing happens when the power button is pressed.

A need to update the bios itself and the last possibility will far more costly namely a board or supply seeing one or more bad caps. A failing or failed drive usually starts seeing the failure to find boot device type messages as the post tests finish while a bios or battery problem will effect the cmos information stored on the bios eprom chip. If programming there was lost somehow you would see problems like this as one thought.
 
when it says install will continue after restart leave the cd in and when it restarts it will prompt you to push any key to continue, dont just leave it and it should continue the install, make sure you only have your mouse ,keyboard and monitor pluged in. it must be seing the hdd because it has formated it and added files to it.
 
If you were seeing the press any key now message upon the first reboot you would know that was the normal message to expect if the cd rom slection is still set as the first in the boot order. When seeing the first restart whenever installing Windows with the cd rom option set first in the order and usually the only item enabled a quick trip into the bios to see that changed to hard drive always saw the continuation when the hard drive then became the only device the bios searched while looking for boot information.

Sometime having both enabled saw some stalls if the cd rom was left set first. This was one method for forcing the bios search to look at the hard drive as the only device. Being the sata model seen in your information means no problems due to the wrong jumper setting like seen with an ide drive preventing the boot up and continuation there.

The one option not mentioned so far is seeing if there is a boot device menu you can call up for a one time boot session with the drive selected from a list. The F8 key pressed at post time brings that on Asus boards where you see floppy, any hard drives installed listed in the next section, and then the optical drive section last. You scroll down to the WD shown there and press the enter key to see that become the boot device. Review the board's manual on that.
 
will deleting the C partition of my HDD render the drive useless? Or can I just reformat that partition after deleting it?
 
If you delete a partition you have to either create a totally new oner to replace it or expand a second existing one in order to fill in that now vacant drive space. After reformatting a partition or formatting a new one it is then ready for use.

You first have to have a partition to work with in order to see it formatted or reformatted. For that you will want to be familiar with how drive partitioning and formatting works before attempting it yourself or see anything left on the drive like files, photos, and other things lost if the drive was already in use.

On the other hand if the drive is brand new and saw the first attempts leave unwanted clutter from a failed install a good cleaning can then see a fresh clean install succeed. With XP where do you go for instructions? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348

For using a free Linux drive tool GParted live for cd rather then spending on Partition Magic or another retail software you only a few things.

1)cd or dvd burner

2)1 cd-r not rw blank disk

3)correct type of burning program like free version of BurnOn http://www.burnworld.com/burnoncddvd/

4)The correct release of GParted is the most important since there two types namely the typical for Linux only and the platform independent releases(few of those so far) that can be used for various partition types for different OSs. The last and fastest release to work for MS type partitions would be the 0.3.3.0 with 0.3.2.0 version just below that at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=173828

The documentation and instructions along with screen shots for that tool are seen at http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry/generalities/gparted.htm
 
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