Getting ready for the dreaded reformat need advice

[Guest]

I am about to reformat but I am dreading it. About a year ago I ran into
problems after problems when I reformatted and it took all day long, on the
phone with Microsoft and working things out on my own. Thankfully, I logged
the problems I had in a notebook for future reference. My hope is that I can
avoid this problem this time around. Here is what happen that terrible day.

After reformatting the hard-drive, I attempted to reinstall Windows XP.
After windows setup loads all the files, the message "STOP:c0000221 unknown
Hard Error \systemRoot\system32 ntdll.dll" appeared.
After rebooting and trying again, before setup loads any files the error
messge "File\i386\ntkrnlmp.exe could not be found. The error code is 7, setup
can not continue" appeared.
After rebooting and trying a third time, in setup, during files being
loaded, a message "The file adpu160m.sys is corrupted. Press any key to
continue" appeared.
After rebooting many many times, I was finally able to reinstall windows XP,
but setup could not find folder i386. I reinstalled XP and directed setup to
folder i386 on the hard drive. Everything seemed to work after that. It was a
nightmare and I am not looking foward to doing this again.
I did notice that my Windows XP home edition says upgrade on it. Does this
mean that it is not a full Windows XP home edition? Is this why I was having
problems? I bought it at Wal-mart for I think $200 and thought it was the
full version. Thanks for any reply.

 

[Dave B]

If it says upgrade, then it requires proof of a previous version of Windows
to perform the install, and it will not install without it.

 

[Dave B]

And that would NOT be the reason for the problems you are having.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am about to reformat but I am dreading it. ..
I did notice that my Windows XP home edition says upgrade on it. Does
this mean that it is not a full Windows XP home edition?

Yes, the Upgrade version is different from the Full version. That is seldom
a problem for anyone. See below.

Is this why
I was having problems?

No.


I bought it at Wal-mart for I think $200 and
thought it was the full version. Thanks for any reply.

The Full version and the Upgrade contain exactly the same software. The only
difference between the two is in the rules for under what circumstances they
can be used.

The Full version can be used by anybody. The upgrade version can be used
only by someone who owns a previous qualifying version of Windows.

Both can do an upgrade installion. Both can do a clean installation,
formatting the drive. The difference is that to do a clean installation with
the Upgrade version, you have to have the CD of a previous qualifying
version to insert as proof of ownership when prompted to do so.

 

[DanS]

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After reformatting the hard-drive, I attempted to reinstall Windows
XP. After windows setup loads all the files, the message
"STOP:c0000221 unknown Hard Error \systemRoot\system32 ntdll.dll"
appeared. After rebooting and trying again, before setup loads any
files the error messge "File\i386\ntkrnlmp.exe could not be found. The
error code is 7, setup can not continue" appeared.
After rebooting and trying a third time, in setup, during files being
loaded, a message "The file adpu160m.sys is corrupted. Press any key
to continue" appeared.
After rebooting many many times, I was finally able to reinstall
windows XP, but setup could not find folder i386. I reinstalled XP and
directed setup to folder i386 on the hard drive. Everything seemed to
work after that. It was a nightmare and I am not looking foward to
doing this again. I did notice that my Windows XP home edition says
upgrade on it. Does this mean that it is not a full Windows XP home
edition? Is this why I was having problems? I bought it at Wal-mart
for I think $200 and thought it was the full version. Thanks for any
reply.

I had a similar situation trying to install Server2003 on a machine.
Setup would error saying it couln't find file whatever, so I'd start
installing fresh again and it would wizz right past the last 'missing'
file, until it errored saying it couldn't find this other file. The next
install attempt would fail at a different file it seemed while making it
further and further into the install each time.

On a whim, I thought I'd see if it was the RAM, so I removed one stick,
still errored. Replaced the first one then removed the second. This time,
the install went complete and smoothly on the first attempt.

The entire motherboard was upgraded anyway with a dual-p4 Intel board
shortly afterwards, so it is a moot point. But the RAM was replaced at
that time which seemed to solve the problem.

Just my 2¢.

DanS