Continuous Re-installation of Windows XP

[Guest]

I am re-installing Windows XP Home Edition on my computer. It has already
been wiped clean, and I am installing Windows XP again now. The problem
occurs here. It starts up, the Windows logo and loading bar appear, and then
it moves on to Windows Setup. Its at the "Installing Windows" section,
starting at 39 minutes left. Then at 34 minutes left, it shuts down,
restarts, goes through all of setup, and starts installing Windows again with
39 minutes left. It hasn't stopped doing this. Any help?

 

[Guest]

The hard drive was wiped clean..How was that achieved.....Either way,on start
up enter the BIOS,set boot priority to cdrom with xp cd installed,set the
hd as
2nd boot device,save & exit BIOS.Also,unless you have a full copy of xp home,
the upgrade will/would first ask for previous windows CD,if it doesnt
ask,youre
hd is not "wiped clean"....

 

[Eric]

Sounds like he has already gotten past the startup section and moved on to
where it starts the install. That would mean that at that point he has
already wiped clean the drive. If it gets to the point where it is telling
how long he has till the install is finished he has gone past the part where
he sets up the drive for the installation. In which case the hard drive has
been partitioned and formatted. Once that is done, no more Windows or
anything on that drive. What it really sounds like to me is the
installation disk is damaged! If it is the disk that came with the computer
then you will have to contact the computer manufacturer as they can help you
out better. If it is just a regular Windows XP CD then you do a couple of
things. You can either buy a new one (which is expensive) or what you can
do is copy the CD from someone else that you know that has Windows XP. It
isn't illegal to copy the CD, it's illegal to have the installation on a
computer that isn't licensed. What you are paying for is the license. So,
if you already have a license for the computer you would be better off just
making a copy and trying from that CD to install instead! Hope this helps

 

[Eric]

Most of the CD's before they boot up tell you to press any key to boot from
CD. Simply press a key and when the CD boots, the process can be restarted!
It's when you don't press anything that it moves on and bypasses the CD in
which case will continue on with the installation. You press a key and the
process from the CD will start and you can remove the partition and restart
it to completely remove anything on the drive. You'll have to do a new
format but I always do this procedure to fully remove everything on the
drive.

 

[Eric]

Well in that case it sounds like your boot sequence is changed somehow. If
you aren't getting the press any key to boot from CD then your computer is
not trying to boot from your CD first. You need to go into BIOS and change
it so that the sequence shows boot from CD before HDD. After you do that
you should get the press any key again and then the process should be able
to go on from there

 

[Guest]

Wow. I don't know how to thank you... That worked! I now have a brand new
working computer! Thank you for hanging with me the entire time. I flagged
your post as helpful, and I guess thats all I can do besides thanking you,
which I've done.

 

[Eric]

No problem, always great to know that the help offered was what solved the
problem.