Installationof XP Pro on new HD

[Guest]

I purchased a used P III Compaq computer that the owner said had hard drive
problems and that for the sake of security he wanted to keep his HD. The
original OS was Win 98 SE and he had upgraded it to XP Pro and said it worked
okay until his IT person said it was having hard drive problems by not being
able to completely start up.

I purchased a new HD (160Gb Segate ATA) and installed the drive realizing
that initially I would only be able to partion 137 Gb of the drive and that
after the XP OS is installed enable the remaining portion of the drive
accessible.

I went through the CD installation process and after the install reboot it
would just sit at the windows banner stage and not start up. After a couple
of minutes it would go back and try to restart. I tried to start in safe
mode and all other choices but it would do the same thing.

I tried removing one of the ram chips and then replacing one with the other
and still no luck. Can anyone suggest what might be the cause of this head
scratcher? I appreciate any assistance.

Bob

 

[Ron Sommer]

Does the Bios recognize the 160 GB?
If not, then don't use the space above 137 GB.
--
Ronald Sommer

:I purchased a used P III Compaq computer that the owner said had hard drive
: problems and that for the sake of security he wanted to keep his HD. The
: original OS was Win 98 SE and he had upgraded it to XP Pro and said it
worked
: okay until his IT person said it was having hard drive problems by not
being
: able to completely start up.
:
: I purchased a new HD (160Gb Segate ATA) and installed the drive realizing
: that initially I would only be able to partion 137 Gb of the drive and
that
: after the XP OS is installed enable the remaining portion of the drive
: accessible.
:
: I went through the CD installation process and after the install reboot it
: would just sit at the windows banner stage and not start up. After a
couple
: of minutes it would go back and try to restart. I tried to start in safe
: mode and all other choices but it would do the same thing.
:
: I tried removing one of the ram chips and then replacing one with the
other
: and still no luck. Can anyone suggest what might be the cause of this
head
: scratcher? I appreciate any assistance.
:
: Bob
: --
: Bob Bullard

 

[Guest]

Ron:

Thanks for responding. When I enter the bios settings I don't see anywhere
it list the IDE drive capacity, just where to enable etc. I haven't tried to
make it use any space beyond the 137 because I haven't been able to get
windows started.

When the computer is turned on the very first thing that appears is the
Compaq banner page. I have to push del to go to the bios settings it doesn't
display any system information during the bootup.

Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Ghostrider]

I purchased a used P III Compaq computer that the owner said had hard drive
problems and that for the sake of security he wanted to keep his HD. The
original OS was Win 98 SE and he had upgraded it to XP Pro and said it worked
okay until his IT person said it was having hard drive problems by not being
able to completely start up.

I purchased a new HD (160Gb Segate ATA) and installed the drive realizing
that initially I would only be able to partion 137 Gb of the drive and that
after the XP OS is installed enable the remaining portion of the drive
accessible.

I went through the CD installation process and after the install reboot it
would just sit at the windows banner stage and not start up. After a couple
of minutes it would go back and try to restart. I tried to start in safe
mode and all other choices but it would do the same thing.

I tried removing one of the ram chips and then replacing one with the other
and still no luck. Can anyone suggest what might be the cause of this head
scratcher? I appreciate any assistance.

Bob

What type (i.e., Retail or OEM) of Windows XP is being installed? If OEM,
is it branded for a specific make (e.g., Dell, HP, etc.) or for Compaq.
And also, if OEM for Compaq, is it a complete cdrom of Windows XP or just
a recovery disc? Each of these variations would have implications on the
way XP gets installed and started.

 

[Lem]

Ron:

Thanks for responding. When I enter the bios settings I don't see anywhere
it list the IDE drive capacity, just where to enable etc. I haven't tried to
make it use any space beyond the 137 because I haven't been able to get
windows started.

When the computer is turned on the very first thing that appears is the
Compaq banner page. I have to push del to go to the bios settings it doesn't
display any system information during the bootup.

Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Bob

"initially I would only be able to partion 137 Gb of the drive and that
after the XP OS is installed enable the remaining portion of the drive
accessible."

That isn't quite correct. The original version of XP did not support
hard drives larger than 137GB. Starting with SP1, this support was
included in XP. However, in order to use >137GB, you not only have to
have XP sp1 or newer, but also have a 48-bit LBA-compatible BIOS.

There should be some mention in the BIOS of LBA addressing or the like
if the BIOS is capable of recognizing more than 137GB. According to the
second doc linked below, this info may be in the "Channel Device
submenu" corresponding to the hard drive. You also might want to check
out hp web site and see if there is an update to the BIOS for the
machine you have.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&docname=c00007682
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...me=bph07110&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&dlc=en&lang=en



During the XP install process, you were given the choice of where to
install XP and to create a partition. Since you thought that initially
you couldn't make a >137GB partition, I'm assuming that you chose to
make a smaller one. Thus, the whole issue of large disk size doesn't
really seem to be your problem.

It may be, as Ghostrider suggests, that you are attempting to install XP
using a non-compatible CD. Or there may have been other hardware
problems with this machine in addition to the hard drive. XP is a lot
more sensitive to marginal hardware than Win98 was. You might want to
download and run memtest86+ from http://www.memtest.org/ and run it
overnight or at least for several hours.

 

[Lem]

Ron:

Thanks for responding. When I enter the bios settings I don't see anywhere
it list the IDE drive capacity, just where to enable etc. I haven't tried to
make it use any space beyond the 137 because I haven't been able to get
windows started.

When the computer is turned on the very first thing that appears is the
Compaq banner page. I have to push del to go to the bios settings it doesn't
display any system information during the bootup.

Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Bob

And, from MVP Bruce Chambers:

You should also take a few minutes to ensure that there are
WinXP-specific device drivers available for all of the machine's
components. There may not be, if the PC was specifically designed for
Win98/Me. Also bear in mind that PCs designed for, sold and run fine
with Win9x/Me very often do not meet WinXP's much more stringent
hardware quality requirements. This is particularly true of many early
models in Compaq's consumer-class Presario product line or HP's
consumer-class Pavilion product line. WinXP, like WinNT and Win2K
before it, is quite sensitive to borderline defective or substandard
hardware (particularly motherboards, RAM and hard drives) that will
still support Win9x.

 

[Guest]

The CD is a student XP Pro not a 64 bit bit.

 

[Guest]

You are right, the partion size was only going to be a secondary issue after
I got the OS operating. I used the SEAGATE install for the initialization of
the drive because I was silly enough to follow the instructions for the drive.

I am a liitle reluctant in trying to update the bios. I did that once and
it was a costly mistake. I will try the memory test and evaluate whether I
should have just spent a couple hindred mor a got a new pc.

Thanks