Cannot Install Windows XP on a New Hard Drive in my Dell Dimension 2350

  • Thread starter Thread starter Graham Brooker
  • Start date Start date
G

Graham Brooker

I bought a 160GB hard drive from Dell and fitted it correctly. I ran the
diagnostic tests from the Dell resource diagnostic CD - all OK. I cannot
reinstall windows XP from the Windows disk.



The system boots OK from the CD, creates a new NTFS partition (the only
one), formats the C drive and copies over the first stage of the windows
installation files. The PC reboots correctly from the C drive and tries to
finish the installation. "Preparing Installation" is marked green as
completed. "Installing Windows" is highlighted and the green progress bar
is about 2/3s along with "Installing Devices" showing above it. The
estimated time to finish is 34 minutes when the software install stops. All
the slideshow windows feature messages continue to keep changing and the
progress stars on the bottom right hand corner keep flashing to show
something is happening.



Each time I run the Windows set-up disk it runs to the same point and
appears to stop although the screen is still active. I always delete and
create a new partition and reformat each time I try. I even tried another
Windows XP Home Edition CD from a newer Dell PC and it did exactly the same
thing.



Do I have to run anything else before I start windows installation e.g. flat
screen set-up disk for instance. I have disconnected the printer and
network cable.



Dell tech support want me to run DOS DEBUG and run some low level disk
cleanup/format utility from a direct BIOS call. I thought these were unsafe
on new modern hard drives. They then suggest I run the DOS FDISK and FORMAT
commands rather than use the Windows Set-up program to do this for me. I am
worried about doing this.



Any ideas greatly appreciated.
 
You might want to take a look here before you start any major
surgery:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828267

If you have a USB keyboard or mouse then this might be your
problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815319

If the CD you're using does not include SP1 or SP2 you may be
running into this problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

A few other things to try:

Disconnect everything except the keyboard, mouse and monitor.
Go to Dell's web site and see if there is a BIOS update available
for your machine.

Nepatsfan
 
I had one install hang around that area also for 30 minutes (always showed
34 left also even after 30 minutes) before finishing. I decided to let it go
and just wait and the pc is still running fine now 8 months later. it was a
dell 4500 . maybe waiting is the answer here too.
 
Many thanks for this information which sorted out my problem. The Dell tech
support help information was clearly wrong in this instance.

I disconnected my USB mouse and plugged in a PS2 mouse in stead. I rebooted
from the C: drive and finished my previous installation. Win XP appeared to
skip or not install certain "unknown" devices so I installed everything from
the Dell Resource Driver CD one at a time. Each device got installed
eventually until all unknown ones disappeared from the list.

A few automatic Win XP updates from the internet sorted out the remaining
glitches and after about 20 re-boots everything seems to work fine.

Thanks for your help

Graham
 
-----Original Message-----
Glad to hear you're all set. Thanks for the feedback.

Nepatsfan
message news:[email protected]...


.
Click to expand...

I am having a similar problem.

I'm trying to do a fresh install of MCE 2005. The
installation starts fine. It goes through, formats the
drive, begin installing files and then reboots. What's
really strange... this is the sixth time I have tried to
install today. Earlier I could make it alway into Windows
setup screens, networking, machine name, installing
windows components in XP setup, etc... however for some
reason the machine rebooted during mid-installation -- no
power failure or other obvious reason. Since that first
reboot, as weird as it sounds, the reboots have
continued, however now I can't even get past the file
copy stages of windows media center setup (right after
drive selection and format).

When the reboot occurs... I see the press any key to boot
from CD message, followed by NTLDR is missing
Press CTRL + ALT +DELETE to restart

Any ideas?

My setup is:

Intel 2.8GHz; 800 mhz fsb, 1mb cache
1GB
matsonic MS9087C mobo
Western Digital 40 GB drive
NVidia GeForce FX 5200
PS2 Keyboard
MS USB Intellipoint mouse
Panasonic slot-load CD-RW/DVD Rom drive

Has anyone ever run into this problem before?

tia!
slang
 
First off you're probably going to get better responses to your
question if you start a new thread.

That said, here's my take on what you can try:

The error message you saw is because your PC is trying to boot
from the hard drive. It can't because the Windows installation
didn't complete.

You've got to restart the installation by booting from the CD. If
Windows has a problem installing a device it may reboot. Windows
makes a note of the problem item and is supposed to skip over it
the next time you run the installation. Keep in mind that there
may be more than one problem device on your machine, so you may
have to follow this procedure a number of times. In other words,
if the installation is interrupted at any stage before completion
then you're going to have to boot from the CD. Windows should
pick up where it left off. Select boot from the CD until your
installation is completed. If you try this procedure a couple of
times and it reboots later in the installation process, then you
know you're headed in the right direction. Once you get to a
point where you see a notice about the installation being
complete then you can stop booting from the CD and let your PC
boot from the hard drive. If, on the other hand, it gets stuck at
the same spot during the installation then this procedure isn't
going to help.

As far as your hardware setup is concerned, make sure the only
things connected to your PC are the keyboard, mouse and monitor.
If you've got a spare PS2 mouse, I'd try using that during the
installation and then install your USB one after you've got
Windows up and running.

Nepatsfan
 
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