Setup Has To Skip Files During Windows XP Installation...

[Guest]

I have a friends pc and I'm trying to install Windows Xp. I reformatted the
hard drive so it will be a fresh install. It had Windows 98(I know...old).
The pc only has a 4gb hard drive and 64mb ram. The processor is fast enough,
etc. Even if none of these specs were good enough, setup would tell me,
right. These things shouldn't have an effect on a file being copied to the
dive during setup, right? Thanks.

 

[Ken Blake]

I have a friends pc and I'm trying to install Windows Xp. I
reformatted the hard drive so it will be a fresh install. It had
Windows 98(I know...old). The pc only has a 4gb hard drive and 64mb
ram. The processor is fast enough, etc. Even if none of these specs
were good enough, setup would tell me, right. These things shouldn't
have an effect on a file being copied to the dive during setup,
right? Thanks.

Don't mix up the official minimum requirements for installing XP (which from
what you say, this computer meets), with the real minimum requirements
needed to run it at anything approaching acceptable performance (which this
computer doesn't come close to meeting). To be able to do anything, you need
at least a 10GB hard drive and 256MB of RAM. And even that would make a poor
performer for your friend.

 

[Malke]

I have a friends pc and I'm trying to install Windows Xp. I
reformatted the hard drive so it will be a fresh install. It had
Windows 98(I know...old). The pc only has a 4gb hard drive and 64mb
ram. The processor is fast enough, etc. Even if none of these specs
were good enough, setup would tell me, right. These things shouldn't
have an effect on a file being copied to the dive during setup, right?
Thanks.

No. This machine is inadequate to run XP. XPSP2 all by itself - without
any of the 60+ subsequent updates, will run to almost 2.5GB. That
doesn't even count a swap file. I wouldn't install XP on a drive
smaller than 30GB if you want to run any programs, and that would be
pushing it. For RAM, you want at least 512MB of RAM to run XP well; it
will run with 256MB but not very well. The minimum requirements are
128MB but it will perform horribly.

Your friend's PC is done. You can put Win98 back on it and try and keep
it protected behind a firewall, use an antivirus, and tell your friend
to practice "Safe Hex". Forget about installing any other modern
operating system.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Is this why it skips files? The hard drive is too small and the memory isn't
enough? Also, I tried reinstalling Win98 and it asks me for a boot disc. Why
is this and how do I make a boot disc if the OS isn't installed? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Also, the pc is a Gateway, I don't know when it was purchased, but Ive always
heard some store bought pc's are hard to or non-upgradeable as far as
hardware. I wonder if he gets a larger hard drive and more memory, if the Win
XP will work.

 

[Malke]

Is this why it skips files? The hard drive is too small and the memory
isn't enough? Also, I tried reinstalling Win98 and it asks me for a
boot disc. Why is this and how do I make a boot disc if the OS isn't
installed? Thanks.

It's possible and it's also possible that the RAM is flaky, failing, or
marginal. It's also possible that the hard drive is dying. Most
failures to install an operating system are because of bad hardware.

To install Windows 98:

1. Boot with a floppy boot disk that has CD-ROM drivers on it. If you
don't have one, get one from www.bootdisk.com.

2. Once booted with CD-ROM drivers loaded, you will be at the A: prompt.
a. Use fdisk and delete any partitions; create a new one for Win98.
b. Reboot after that with the boot disk still in the drive. Now at the
A: prompt do "format" without the quotes to format the drive.
c. When the format is done, put the Win98 disk in the drive and change
the directory (cd) to C:\
d. Mkdir Win98
e. cd to the CD-ROM drive and do
copy Win98 C:\Win98
f. After the files have copied, cd to C: and do "setup" without the
quotes to start the Win98 installation setup.

If the Win98 installation setup fails, the machine should be retired
with honors and sent to that big hard drive in the sky.

Malke