Installation issues.

[Frank Rizzo]

I got a 2 year old PC (HP) without a hard drive. The computer has a
parallel IDE interface. I went out and bought a 300GB PATA drive (they
didn't have anything less) and tried to install Windows XP.

So I come to the screen where it asks me to either install (press Enter)
or Repair (press R). I picked 'Install', selected the partition and
selected the largest size (300gb) for it. Windows went ahead and
formatted the drive, then it started copying files needed for
installation (we are still on the blue background screen). This took a
while, but after it was done copying files, it went right back to the
screen where you are asked to install or Repair.

I tried to repartition the drive into 3 partitions 100gb each, but
basically got the same result.

What am I missing here? Why won't it install?

Regards

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I got a 2 year old PC (HP) without a hard drive. The computer has a
parallel IDE interface. I went out and bought a 300GB PATA drive
(they didn't have anything less) and tried to install Windows XP.

So I come to the screen where it asks me to either install (press
Enter) or Repair (press R). I picked 'Install', selected the
partition and selected the largest size (300gb) for it. Windows
went ahead and formatted the drive, then it started copying files
needed for installation (we are still on the blue background
screen). This took a while, but after it was done copying files,
it went right back to the screen where you are asked to install or
Repair.
I tried to repartition the drive into 3 partitions 100gb each, but
basically got the same result.

What am I missing here? Why won't it install?

No idea.

What version is your Windows XP media? Does it have at least SP1 integrated
into it?
You didn't 'press any key to boot from cd' after you formatted and it copied
files, did you?

 

[Frank Rizzo]

No idea.

What version is your Windows XP media? Does it have at least SP1 integrated
into it?
You didn't 'press any key to boot from cd' after you formatted and it copied
files, did you?

Not sure, it does not say on the CD, just Windows XP. I think I can
find one with SP2. Should I try that? If so, why?

 

[josh]

Not sure, it does not say on the CD, just Windows XP. I think I can
find one with SP2. Should I try that? If so, why?

You didn't 'press any key to boot from cd' after you formatted and it
copied
files, did you?

Shenan Stanley asked that...



That is what you need to make sure not to do after it reboots...
it will ask you if you want to boot from cd again you have to make
sure not to do that

 

[Andy]

I got a 2 year old PC (HP) without a hard drive. The computer has a
parallel IDE interface. I went out and bought a 300GB PATA drive (they
didn't have anything less) and tried to install Windows XP.

So I come to the screen where it asks me to either install (press Enter)
or Repair (press R). I picked 'Install', selected the partition and
selected the largest size (300gb) for it. Windows went ahead and
formatted the drive, then it started copying files needed for
installation (we are still on the blue background screen). This took a
while, but after it was done copying files, it went right back to the
screen where you are asked to install or Repair.

I tried to repartition the drive into 3 partitions 100gb each, but
basically got the same result.

What am I missing here? Why won't it install?

Are you sure the bios is booting from the hard drive? Sounds like it's
only booting from the CD.