CAN'T BOOT INTO XP (THE 98-XP UPGRADE WORKED INITIALLY)-HELP!

[Guest]

Hi, So I at first successfully upgraded my notebook from 98-XP since product
support ends on July 11 (otherwise 98 still worked fine) all seemed great in
XP but then after a reboot all I get are "One of your disks needs to be
checked for consistencyâ€-then runs CHKDSK & says the like:

"\WINDOWS\DUMP7955.tmp is crosslinked on allocation unit 1424732"

claims to have fixed it & 6 files that don't match their size then tries to
load XP & the whole thing starts over again!

I can not even get into Safe Mode or Use Last Known working
Configuration!-Nightmare!

http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=8430&gprid=37012
says I get 2 free calls OR emails but not open this weekend...so I turn to
you nice people.

Any ideas? It initially booted into XP, the only thing I changed was some
display settings I liked, still worked but after reboot I get this cycle of
"One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency" with no end.

Pre-upgrade I had checked my HD for errors (none), malware & freed up 8 GB
& defragmented & all was fine with Win98 & initial XP boot so I feel there
should be hope here!

Appreciate any help, I'm generally good with PCs but frankly had heard some
horror stories about upgrading to XP & have been waiting for Merom-XP/Vista
notebooks to buy next notebook. This 15" LCD is still flawless & notebook
does exceed all MSFT listed system requirements for XP.

This Dell Inspiron 7000, 384 RAM, P366, 30GB HD, 8MB VRAM, DVD, docking
station cost a pretty penny back in 1999 but I've read people have been able
to upgrade this Inspiron 7000 to XP..and otherwise still was reliable before
this (CompUSA bought rebate) XP upgrade. What can I say I'm a
conservationist and don't want to toss a notebook that should work in both 98
& XP!

Thank you so much for your help,

 

[DL]

Since winxp is a totally different o/s to win 9* perhaps you should have
performed a clean installation, then installed drivers from the Laptop manu
for winxp

 

[Guest]

Thanks DL, but ideally I'd like to upgrade since I bought the upgrade
product. I might be willing to clean install as a last resort* if it's
legal.

I did backup data of course but when I initially did boot into Win XP & saw
my directory structure, etc it was nice. I think I should be able to get
this upgrade to work since it did boot into XP initially but now it is stuck
in the CHKDSK-verifying files & folders loop mode.

Other thoughts? -Thanks

 

[DL]

The upgrade version simply needs to 'see' the earlier o/s cd, there is no
need to upgrade over an installed earlier version.
Since the two o/s are so different a clean installation is often best and
gives the least number of problems.
The early version o/s cd forms part of your upgrade licence.

Any thoughts; well yes it seems like you relied on default winxp drivers,
and its possible files have been corrupted.

 

[Guest]

The other reasons I’d prefer to upgrade is while I did back up my data:
1) I don’t have all the installation disks for my software (some 7 years old
now).
2) If there is no guarantee that Win XP will work, I can at least revert
back to my customized Win 98 more easily if it doesn’t. This is a lot less
work with upgrade.

I have read a clean install is needed at times but I’d still like to try to
see if the upgrade will work as it did in the first boot. I guess I’ll call
MSFT on Monday if no other ideas.

-Thanks

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

The other reasons I'd prefer to upgrade is while I did back up my
data: 1) I don't have all the installation disks for my software
(some 7 years old now).

If it's that old, you should be aware that there's a good chance some of it
may not work with Windows XP anyway.

2) If there is no guarantee that Win XP will work, I can at least
revert back to my customized Win 98 more easily if it doesn't. This
is a lot less work with upgrade.

Right. In the great majority of cases, an Upgrade works just fine, and as
you say it's much easier. Unlike with previous versions of Windows, an
upgrade to XP replaces almost everything, and usually works very well.

My recommendation is to at least try the upgrade, since it's much easier
than a clean installation. You can always change your mind and reinstall
cleanly if problems develop.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ken for the recommendation, it’s good to read from a MW-MVP that the
upgrade should actually work. The only software that the upgrade told me
needed to be reinstalled was Adobe Acrobat for which I do have the
installation disk (& works on my XP desktop along with much of the same
software on that notebook). The rest of the hardware & software was top of
the line new versions back in mid June 1999 (specs provided & exceed XP
recommendations-has more RAM than some notebooks sold today-though more is
always nice. 95% of the software has been tested to work in XP on the
desktop I’m on now.

My specs are better than the tdodd’s Inspiron 7000 which was upgraded to XP
at:

http://www.dozleng.com/updates/index.php?showtopic=8170&view=findpost&p=36241

Here are others with a lower specced 7000 who upgraded to XP though one of
them did mention a clean install:

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...+Not+Compatible+with+XP+???"#ba1c66732e419521

I’m just surprised that it’s stuck in a CHKDSK loop after a successful
initial XP boot.

I will call MSFT on Monday to continue to try to get this upgrade to work &
find out why it’s stuck in this CHKDSK loop when I do not really doubt the
integrity of the HD nor the feasibility of upgrading this high end Inspiron
7000. {Its 15†LCD still has no bad pixels & absolutely no light leakage
which is more than I can say for many notebooks I see sold today
unfortunately…}

 

[Guest]

My CHKDSK loop problem that was preventing me from booting into XP was
resolved today by using F8->Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure, had
to use XP CD to boot then Recovery console to rename a problem .sys file to
..old (ZoneAlarm file!). XP upgrade works great now, except for the DVD
decoder hardware is not compatible. Have to also give props to a nice guy in
India who works for MSFT. – Thanks