XP Installation Stalled

[Guest]

Have a Acer Aspire E500 pre-loaded with a french language version of XP SP2.
Discovered on this forum that the only way to change language is to install
an english version of XP, so purchased one from UK.

Am required to do a full "clean" install as it will not overwrite a
different language version. Have followed instructions to disable anti-virus
and then booted from the installation CD. Process doesn't get to far before
am left with a screen saying:

"The following list shows the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on
this computer - select an item using the arrow keys"

There follows:
"Unknown Disk (There is no disk in this drive)" - this is repeated 4 times.

On pressing arrow key I am jumped to a blue screen which includes:
"Installation halted to prevent damage.
problem caused by the following file
setupdd.sys Page_Fault_In_Nonpaged_Area
Tech info:
Stop: 0X0000008E; 0XC0000005; 0X8081A799; 0XF7218778; 0X00000000

I know there can' Be any hardware issues - it's a new machine and already
running XP with no probs - albeit in the wrong language!
I have a sneaking suspicion that it is somthing to do with the way Acer have
set up the machine - the 160GB HDD is partitioned in two, but only one part
is accessible.

At a bit of a loss at the moment - need help!

 

[Guest]

On start up,enter the BIOS,install xp cd,select to boot to xp cd,boot
priority
drive or similiar,at xp cd boot menu,press r for recovery,select 1 for disk
C:
press enter for password,if text says other,then simply typeiskPart In
DiskPart delete partitions,create one,then press ESC key,type:EXIT Let xp
restart,reboot to xp cd,select at menu,install xp.

 

[Kamal]

Whatever you do DO NOT follow Andrew E advice.

Before you attempt to reinstall windows make sure all your valuable data is
backed up.

ACER have probably created a recovery partition which they don't want you to
mess with. Have you tried installing Windows from within Windows selecting
new installation.

Also take a look at http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the response guys.

Andrew, I tried your method but it simply put me back into the screen
"the following list shows existing partitioned space etc." Again got thrown
from this to the blue screen telling me "installation halted to prevent
damage etc."

I think Kamal that you have hit the nail on the head. ACER have created a
partition (which they have labelled D: )which is exactly what you say - a
recovery partition. This is accessible only to their own recovery program
(which uses Norton Ghost)- a shortcut to which sits on the desktop.

Although I had already been there, I have looked again at the link that you
posted Kamal, but it mainly deals with getting the machine to boot from a CD,
somthing I don't have a problem with - (fortunately as I don't have a floppy
drive on this machine). After that he simply runs through the set-up options
to select to install XP, a path I have already followed with the results
outlined in my original post.
If any more thoughts are out there I would love to hear. Also am awaiting a
response from ACER - will let you know if they are helpful.
Cheers, Alan