G
Grant Robertson
I'm a computer professional working on a friend's PC. Windows XP Pro is
acting weird enough that I decided to do a repair install. (Fortunately,
I took an image of the HDD before I even started so I can afford to try
drastic things.) I have done repair installs many times before so I don't
need instructions. The problem is that the install fails about 3/4 of the
way through installing the devices. The PC reboots and then setup tries
to pick up where it left off. It just keeps doing this over and over. I
had thought I had read that Windows Setup will mark which device driver
it fails on and then skip that one on the next try. However, I let it go
for quite a few hours and it still seems to fail at about the same point
every time.
I have researched the problem and it seems that some ASUS A7V333
motherboards (which this is) don't take too well to repair installs. Many
people in the past have suggested that the BIOS setting to boot off the
CD has to be changed to boot off the HDD after the first reboot. Keep in
mind, when it reboots it is then booting off the HDD and not the CD.
Those of us who have done a few dozen CD installs know, if you don't
press a key when it first starts booting off the install CD then it will
revert to booting off the HDD anyway regardless of the BIOS setting.
Nevertheless, I did sit there during the long boring file copy process so
I could catch it when it rebooted and reset the BIOS to boot off of the
HDD. It didn't help.
While I can completely reformat and reinstall, I am trying to avoid it.
This friend has lots of special software installed on her computer that I
don't want to have to reinstall and reconfigure for her. Besides, it has
now become a challenge and a learning experience for me. I want to figure
out how to get this damn thing to take it's repair install and like it!
Since it is failing during the device installation it is reasonable that
it doesn't like some piece of hardware. Well, the only piece of hardware
that isn't required to boot up is the sound card. It seems highly
unlikely that that would be the problem. While I do intend to try that,
it is late and I have to get some sleep. So I have started SpinRite and
it should be finished by the time I get up in the morning. The chances
are slim that this will fix the problem but it is something that can be
done while I am asleep.
If anyone has any other ideas I would really appreciate reading them.
Thank you.
acting weird enough that I decided to do a repair install. (Fortunately,
I took an image of the HDD before I even started so I can afford to try
drastic things.) I have done repair installs many times before so I don't
need instructions. The problem is that the install fails about 3/4 of the
way through installing the devices. The PC reboots and then setup tries
to pick up where it left off. It just keeps doing this over and over. I
had thought I had read that Windows Setup will mark which device driver
it fails on and then skip that one on the next try. However, I let it go
for quite a few hours and it still seems to fail at about the same point
every time.
I have researched the problem and it seems that some ASUS A7V333
motherboards (which this is) don't take too well to repair installs. Many
people in the past have suggested that the BIOS setting to boot off the
CD has to be changed to boot off the HDD after the first reboot. Keep in
mind, when it reboots it is then booting off the HDD and not the CD.
Those of us who have done a few dozen CD installs know, if you don't
press a key when it first starts booting off the install CD then it will
revert to booting off the HDD anyway regardless of the BIOS setting.
Nevertheless, I did sit there during the long boring file copy process so
I could catch it when it rebooted and reset the BIOS to boot off of the
HDD. It didn't help.
While I can completely reformat and reinstall, I am trying to avoid it.
This friend has lots of special software installed on her computer that I
don't want to have to reinstall and reconfigure for her. Besides, it has
now become a challenge and a learning experience for me. I want to figure
out how to get this damn thing to take it's repair install and like it!
Since it is failing during the device installation it is reasonable that
it doesn't like some piece of hardware. Well, the only piece of hardware
that isn't required to boot up is the sound card. It seems highly
unlikely that that would be the problem. While I do intend to try that,
it is late and I have to get some sleep. So I have started SpinRite and
it should be finished by the time I get up in the morning. The chances
are slim that this will fix the problem but it is something that can be
done while I am asleep.
If anyone has any other ideas I would really appreciate reading them.
Thank you.