Repair installation loop

[Guest]

I'm sure that this is getting to be old by now. But I have read several posts and tried several things and I'm still in this darn loop nightmare

I'm attempting a repair installation of XP Pro

Setup gets to installing devices, and shows 35 minutes remaining. The screen flickers for a moment, then shortly after hard drive activity stops.

I've disabled the onboard video and switched to a PCI video card, which didn't help
I've disabled everything that can be disabled in the BIOS, with no change in the loop
I tried using F8 and starting Windows normally, which starts the whole loop over again
I tried F8 and using the last known good config, which starts the loop over
I tried F8 and safe mode, to which I'm told setup cannot continue in safe mode and will restart
The last line of C:\Windows\setuplog.txt reads - d:\xpsp1\ntsetup\syssetup\syspnp.c,2741,,SETUP: Entering InstallEnumeratedDevices(
Drive D is listed as \Device\CDRom

The boot.ini read
[boot loader
timeout=
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW
[operating system
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetec

The system loaded before we started this whole deal, it just had a problem installing a printer driver. That's when the user decided to attempt a repair install.

So is there a way to stop setup from running so I can get back to a working Windows? Or is there something that I've missed to get out of loop hell? Wiping the drive and starting fresh is something that I would really really like to avoid if at all possible

Thanks and regards

 

[Kaylene aka Taurarian]

Personal experience, been there done that, ended up having to do a clean
install, I downloaded the setup boot disks from another computer, then created
the floppies and did a new install.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310994
Obtaining Windows XP Setup Boot Disks

Perhaps someone else has a better idea!

I'm sure that this is getting to be old by now. But I have read several posts

and tried several things and I'm still in this darn loop nightmare!

I'm attempting a repair installation of XP Pro.

Setup gets to installing devices, and shows 35 minutes remaining. The screen

flickers for a moment, then shortly after hard drive activity stops.

I've disabled the onboard video and switched to a PCI video card, which didn't help.
I've disabled everything that can be disabled in the BIOS, with no change in the loop.
I tried using F8 and starting Windows normally, which starts the whole loop over again.
I tried F8 and using the last known good config, which starts the loop over.
I tried F8 and safe mode, to which I'm told setup cannot continue in safe mode and will restart.
The last line of C:\Windows\setuplog.txt reads -

d:\xpsp1\ntsetup\syssetup\syspnp.c,2741,,SETUP: Entering
InstallEnumeratedDevices()

Drive D is listed as \Device\CDRom0

The boot.ini reads
[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating system]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

The system loaded before we started this whole deal, it just had a problem

installing a printer driver. That's when the user decided to attempt a repair
install.

So is there a way to stop setup from running so I can get back to a working

Windows? Or is there something that I've missed to get out of loop hell? Wiping
the drive and starting fresh is something that I would really really like to
avoid if at all possible.

 

[Tim]

Are you trying to install from a CD or DVD Writer?
If so then copy the CD image to the disc drive and run setup from there.
- Tim

I'm sure that this is getting to be old by now. But I have read several

posts and tried several things and I'm still in this darn loop nightmare!

I'm attempting a repair installation of XP Pro.

Setup gets to installing devices, and shows 35 minutes remaining. The

screen flickers for a moment, then shortly after hard drive activity stops.

I've disabled the onboard video and switched to a PCI video card, which didn't help.
I've disabled everything that can be disabled in the BIOS, with no change in the loop.
I tried using F8 and starting Windows normally, which starts the whole loop over again.
I tried F8 and using the last known good config, which starts the loop over.
I tried F8 and safe mode, to which I'm told setup cannot continue in safe mode and will restart.
The last line of C:\Windows\setuplog.txt reads -

d:\xpsp1\ntsetup\syssetup\syspnp.c,2741,,SETUP: Entering
InstallEnumeratedDevices()

Drive D is listed as \Device\CDRom0

The boot.ini reads
[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating system]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

The system loaded before we started this whole deal, it just had a problem

installing a printer driver. That's when the user decided to attempt a
repair install.

So is there a way to stop setup from running so I can get back to a

working Windows? Or is there something that I've missed to get out of loop
hell? Wiping the drive and starting fresh is something that I would really
really like to avoid if at all possible.