Frequent rebooting during upgrade stops process completing

[Ian R]

Hi

I've been assisting a friend with the installation of Win XP Pro Upgrade.

The current OS is Windows ME

The problem is that part way through the installation process it will get to
a certain point and then the PC will simply reboot and we then have to go
through the whole process again! Upon the next attempt (from scratch!) the
upgrade may get a little further ahead before it reboots or it may happen
prior to the previous point.

This rebooting is not to be confused with the normal reboots one expects
during an installation process. It happens when the install is half cooked
eg on DOS Screen showing a horizontal yellow bar graph it gets to say 43%
and before it gets to 100% the PC will just reboot as if someone had pressed
the reset button!

This is proving almost impossible to install and consuming a frustrating
amount of time.

The pre install compatibilty check said there were no problems so I dont
understand why this is happening or how to get around it.

Ive tried copying the I386 folder to the hard drive as suggested in one of
the install help files but it didnt make any difference.

The PC is very stable under ME or running DOS progs and rarely crashes so we
dont suspect its a hardware fault.

Any ideas?

Thanks for any info.

Ian

 

[DL]

Perhaps consider a clean install, you would need your winme cd, and ensure
all data is backed up

 

[Richard Urban [MVP]]

Was the original install of Windows ME working flawlessly? If you had
problems with ME those problems may be interfering with the upgrade.

Don't expect an install of Windows XP to correct all errors in a previous
bad installation of any qualified upgrade system. It likely won't do so.

At this point, do as DL suggests and perform a clean format/install. You
will get rid of all the crap that may be causing problems by doing so.

When the install has completed, make sure that you turn on the system
firewall. Then go to Window Updates and get "all" of the critical updates
and as many of the recommended updates as you feel you need.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from: George Ankner
"If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!"

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi

I've been assisting a friend with the installation of Win XP Pro Upgrade.

The current OS is Windows ME

The problem is that part way through the installation process it will get to
a certain point and then the PC will simply reboot and we then have to go
through the whole process again! Upon the next attempt (from scratch!) the
upgrade may get a little further ahead before it reboots or it may happen
prior to the previous point.

This rebooting is not to be confused with the normal reboots one expects
during an installation process. It happens when the install is half cooked
eg on DOS Screen showing a horizontal yellow bar graph it gets to say 43%
and before it gets to 100% the PC will just reboot as if someone had pressed
the reset button!

Well, since the OS isn't even installed, this clearly isn't a true
Windows problem. There's a slim chance that you have a damaged
installation CD, but it's uch more likely that there's a hardware
problem. Seemingly random reboots would tend to indicate a potential
over-heating problem, but we'd need much more specific information to
make such a determination.

This is proving almost impossible to install and consuming a frustrating
amount of time.

The pre install compatibilty check said there were no problems so I dont
understand why this is happening or how to get around it.

The Compatibility Wizard is a fairly good tool, but, unfortunately,
it's completely infallible.

Ive tried copying the I386 folder to the hard drive as suggested in one of
the install help files but it didnt make any difference.

The PC is very stable under ME or running DOS progs and rarely crashes so we
dont suspect its a hardware fault.

That's not a valid conclusion, I'm afraid. A computer's working with
Win9x/Me is absolutely _no_ indication that it will work with WinXP.
Computer components designed for use with Win9x/Me very often fail to
meet WinXP's much more stringent hardware quality requirements.

Have you verified that your PC's hardware components are capable
of supporting WinXP? This information will be found at the PC's
manufacturer's web site, and on Microsoft's Windows Catalog:
(http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx)

You should also take a few minutes to ensure that there are
WinXP-specific device drivers available for all of the machine's
components. There may not be, if the PC was specifically designed for
Win98/Me. Also bear in mind that PCs designed for, sold and run fine
with Win9x/Me very often do not meet WinXP's much more stringent
hardware quality requirements. This is particularly true of many models
in Compaq's consumer-class Presario product line or HP's consumer-class
Pavilion product line. WinXP, like WinNT and Win2K before it, is quite
sensitive to borderline defective or substandard hardware (particularly
motherboards, RAM and hard drives) that will still support Win9x.

HOW TO Prepare to Upgrade Win98 or WinMe
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316639

Upgrading to Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

HOW TO Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation When You
Upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q310064


--

Bruce Chambers

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