help! endless loop of rebooting & failed Windows XP setup

[Mike M.]

Help! My computer is trapped in an endless loop of
trying and failing to (upgrade) reinstall Windows XP. In
the middle of Windows XP setup "installing devices" the
computer suddenly reboots and then continues trying to
setup Windows XP only to fail again at the exact same
point. None of the F8 options (Windows safe mode etc.)
succeed in either getting me onto Windows or solving the
problem. Nor does removing the Windows XP CD from the CD
drive prevent the computer from continuing to try and
fail to setup Windows XP. Shutting down the computer does
not prevent the same problem from continuing after the
computer is turned back on. An MS-DOS startup disk did
not give me access to the hard drive. No matter what I
do, when I start or restart the computer it keeps trying
and failing to setup/reinstall Windows XP, and suddenly
reboots in the middle of "installing devices". The setup
log error message says: "Fatal error: One of the
components that Windows needs to continue setup could not
be installed". Not the faintest clue given of what that
component is.
Before I tried to reinstall Windows XP, my computer
had the problem of suddenly shutting down and rebooting,
once in a long while, from no apparent cause.
Mike

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Disconnect all hardware expect for the keyboard, mouse and monitor. Try the
re-install again then.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups


| Help! My computer is trapped in an endless loop of
| trying and failing to (upgrade) reinstall Windows XP. In
| the middle of Windows XP setup "installing devices" the
| computer suddenly reboots and then continues trying to
| setup Windows XP only to fail again at the exact same
| point. None of the F8 options (Windows safe mode etc.)
| succeed in either getting me onto Windows or solving the
| problem. Nor does removing the Windows XP CD from the CD
| drive prevent the computer from continuing to try and
| fail to setup Windows XP. Shutting down the computer does
| not prevent the same problem from continuing after the
| computer is turned back on. An MS-DOS startup disk did
| not give me access to the hard drive. No matter what I
| do, when I start or restart the computer it keeps trying
| and failing to setup/reinstall Windows XP, and suddenly
| reboots in the middle of "installing devices". The setup
| log error message says: "Fatal error: One of the
| components that Windows needs to continue setup could not
| be installed". Not the faintest clue given of what that
| component is.
| Before I tried to reinstall Windows XP, my computer
| had the problem of suddenly shutting down and rebooting,
| once in a long while, from no apparent cause.
| Mike

 

[Mike M.]

I tried disconnecting all externally connected
hardware, other than monitor,mouse and keyboard, but that
didn't help.
I had to change the boot order in my bios to make my CD-
ROM drive boot before my hard drive and then "press any
key" at just the right time to boot from my Windows XP
CD. Then after a failed attempt (F3) to cancel out of the
Windows XP installation altogether, I chose to start the
installation over(F10) and now I have selected the
Recovery Console option to try to "repair" the WindowsXP
installation. So please tell me: what should I do now
from Recovery Console? I typed in the word help to get
the list of commands (just like DOS), but I am still in
the dark as to what to do.
Mike

 

[Rich Barry]

Mike, take a look at this
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

[Will Denny]

Hi Mike

You don't want to go into the Recovery Console - you've hit the wrong 'R'.
Have a look at Michael Stevens article for a 'Repair' install:

"How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install"
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups


| I tried disconnecting all externally connected
| hardware, other than monitor,mouse and keyboard, but that
| didn't help.
| I had to change the boot order in my bios to make my CD-
| ROM drive boot before my hard drive and then "press any
| key" at just the right time to boot from my Windows XP
| CD. Then after a failed attempt (F3) to cancel out of the
| Windows XP installation altogether, I chose to start the
| installation over(F10) and now I have selected the
| Recovery Console option to try to "repair" the WindowsXP
| installation. So please tell me: what should I do now
| from Recovery Console? I typed in the word help to get
| the list of commands (just like DOS), but I am still in
| the dark as to what to do.
| Mike
|
| >-----Original Message-----
| >Hi
| >
| >Disconnect all hardware expect for the keyboard, mouse
| and monitor. Try the
| >re-install again then.
| >
| >--
| >
| >Will Denny
| >MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
| >Please reply to the News Groups
| >
| >
| >| >| Help! My computer is trapped in an endless loop of
| >| trying and failing to (upgrade) reinstall Windows XP.
| In
| >| the middle of Windows XP setup "installing devices" the
| >| computer suddenly reboots and then continues trying to
| >| setup Windows XP only to fail again at the exact same
| >| point. None of the F8 options (Windows safe mode etc.)
| >| succeed in either getting me onto Windows or solving
| the
| >| problem. Nor does removing the Windows XP CD from the
| CD
| >| drive prevent the computer from continuing to try and
| >| fail to setup Windows XP. Shutting down the computer
| does
| >| not prevent the same problem from continuing after the
| >| computer is turned back on. An MS-DOS startup disk did
| >| not give me access to the hard drive. No matter what I
| >| do, when I start or restart the computer it keeps
| trying
| >| and failing to setup/reinstall Windows XP, and suddenly
| >| reboots in the middle of "installing devices". The
| setup
| >| log error message says: "Fatal error: One of the
| >| components that Windows needs to continue setup could
| not
| >| be installed". Not the faintest clue given of what that
| >| component is.
| >| Before I tried to reinstall Windows XP, my computer
| >| had the problem of suddenly shutting down and
| rebooting,
| >| once in a long while, from no apparent cause.
| >| Mike
| >
| >.
| >

 

[Mike M.]

Thanks, but unfortunately the repair install option
just brought me back to being trapped in the same loop of
rebooting in the middle of installing devices.
Mike

 

[Rob]

you ever get an answer to your problem? I'm stuck with XP
endless install boot myself.

 

[Guest]

Did anyone get a final resolution to this?

I've got the similar problem of a reboot at 34 minutes remaining of the
setup (during Installing Devices). I'm not in a loop, but I can't get any
further in the install of XP Pro. I'm oddly pleased that other people have
had a similar problem.

This is a new install on a newly built system, so I've only got a bare
system to start with. There's nothing already installed that I can recover
to. Repairing the install takes me to exactly the same situation. I've
swapped out RAM cards, but using either card has the same problem.

The install was initially rebooting after the 'copying files' portion of the
boot from CD, but using only one RAM card got me past that. I started again
and re-formatted and did a clean install with the other card on its own, just
to test it, and that also worked. It just failed with both. So that took me
to the XP restart, then boot from the HDD correctly, the EULA, and Installing
Windows setup. It gets from 39 minutes remaining down to around 34 minutes
and then reboots every time.

I've read and tried everything written here.

Can anyone advise? I suppose both RAMs could be faulty, but since they're
both new, I'm having a hard time accepting that.

Thanks.