Major install catastrophe

[Guest]

Hopefully this is the correct place for a question like this.

Hardware Setup - Maxtor 60 Gb 5400 RPM hard drive
K7S5A Motherboard
Athlon XP 2000+ Processor (running at 1200 instead
of 1600 MHz)

Trying to install Windows XP Pro for a friend and Setup continually
terminates. Generally, it will come to the *Press Enter to install, R to
Repair, etc* screen and then it will reboot the computer - either before I
can hit enter, or immediately after. The furthest it's gotten in the last
50+ tries was to 2% formatting the file. Tried manually writing 0's to the
drive and then installing; did nothing. Tried different hard drives in it
too. Please help if anyone can. Thanks for your time.
-MikeDH

 

[Bob Day]

Hopefully this is the correct place for a question like this.

Hardware Setup - Maxtor 60 Gb 5400 RPM hard drive
K7S5A Motherboard
Athlon XP 2000+ Processor (running at 1200 instead
of 1600 MHz)

Trying to install Windows XP Pro for a friend and Setup continually
terminates. Generally, it will come to the *Press Enter to install, R to
Repair, etc* screen and then it will reboot the computer - either before I
can hit enter, or immediately after. The furthest it's gotten in the last
50+ tries was to 2% formatting the file. Tried manually writing 0's to the
drive and then installing; did nothing. Tried different hard drives in it
too. Please help if anyone can. Thanks for your time.
-MikeDH

Do a basic hardware check:

1. Check the CPU fan, case fans, and any other fans in
your computer and make sure they are working.

2. Access the BIOS and if the BIOS has a temperature
monitor feature, make sure the temperatures are ok,
especially the CPU temperature.

3. Shut down your computer and turn off power *at the
surge protector* (which cuts off standby power while
leaving your computer grounded) or unplug it. Take
the standard precautions against static electricity
(wear a wrist strap or keep one hand grounded at all
times).

4. Open up your computer and dust it out. *Do not use a
vacuum cleaner* - it might cause static discharge.
Get some dust remover spray (BestBuy, RadioShack) and
a dust mask, and take your computer outside and spray
out the dust. Keep the end of the spray straw at least
six inches from any components and keep it moving so as
to avoid excessive thermal shock to the components.

5. Reseat all the modules, including the memory modules,
and cables inside your computer.

6. Remove the CMOS battery, measure its
voltage, and if the measured voltage is significantly less
than the voltage marked on top of the battery (usually 3
volts), replace it. Note: If you do this step, you'll
have to set up your BIOS again.

7. Turn on your computer, and if it boots, download
"Memtest86+" from http://www.memtest.org and run
it for a few cycles to thoroughly check out your memory.
You should get zero errors.

--Bob Day
http://bobday.vze.com