URGENT: Windows XP Setup Freezes during Inspecting Hardware

[Matt Callaghan]

Hello.

I was hoping someone might be able to help me.

This is major.
Here is what happened.
I was working in Windows XP, and it gave a general stop
error, not specific to any device driver.
I did a cold restart.

Upon reloading, and where normally it should say "Windows
XP Professional.....Loading" and the loading bar, it was
only a black screen.
The hard drives did not work (red light), nor did
anything else.
I also cannot press F8 for advanced options.

I have tried to re-install Windows XP ...but here is what
happens,
When it gets to the point "Setup is inspecting your
hardware"..the very first thing, it freezes, and once
again does not proceed into the setup.

So, to troubleshoot, i started removing each peripherial.
only to find that if i disable my RAID Array, it allows
setup to continue.
So i deleted the Array, and recreated it.
Tried setup again, but to no avail.

This tells me that something must be corrupt with the
loader....how can i possibly fix such a thing without
loosing my data?

(P.S. the only solution I see ahead of me is low level
formatting the drives, and starting over, this really
ISN'T an option, and can only be used as a last resort)

I hope someone has some ideas for me.
Thank you for your time
Matt Callaghan

 

[Frank]

Depending on the RAID controller you are using, the drivers
will have to be installed. Your post reads as if the RAID
drivers have corrupted. The very first thing that appears
when you load XP is press F6 if you need whatever. This
is where I loaded my RAID drivers from the floppy disk.

Matt Callaghan wrote:

| Hello.
|
| I was hoping someone might be able to help me.
|
| This is major.
| Here is what happened.
| I was working in Windows XP, and it gave a general stop
| error, not specific to any device driver.
| I did a cold restart.
|
| Upon reloading, and where normally it should say "Windows
| XP Professional.....Loading" and the loading bar, it was
| only a black screen.
| The hard drives did not work (red light), nor did
| anything else.
| I also cannot press F8 for advanced options.
|
| I have tried to re-install Windows XP ...but here is what
| happens,
| When it gets to the point "Setup is inspecting your
| hardware"..the very first thing, it freezes, and once
| again does not proceed into the setup.
|
| So, to troubleshoot, i started removing each peripherial.
| only to find that if i disable my RAID Array, it allows
| setup to continue.
| So i deleted the Array, and recreated it.
| Tried setup again, but to no avail.
|
| This tells me that something must be corrupt with the
| loader....how can i possibly fix such a thing without
| loosing my data?
|
| (P.S. the only solution I see ahead of me is low level
| formatting the drives, and starting over, this really
| ISN'T an option, and can only be used as a last resort)
|
| I hope someone has some ideas for me.
| Thank you for your time
| Matt Callaghan

 

[Matt Callaghan]

Well, thank you both for your suggestions, however my
question has not been answered.

For the first response, :
for a RAID ARRAY, you need two drives. The only way i
could put them into a different computer is if the other
computer has the SAME RAID controller as mine..
if it does not, it has to re-create the array, and thus
destroying all of my data.

For the second response:
I know to Press F6 to get the RAID Drivers installed,
however it doesn't even get to that screen....
It is stuck at the "Inspecting Hardware"....

If i DISCONNECT the Hard drives, it gets past, and
continues with the XP Setup....thus I'm sure that there
is something corrupt with the Hard drive information
itself..
strange thing..
I've buckled down a little already...
I booted with an old Win98 Floppy disk..
fdisk....removed the Windows Partition...
fdisk /mbr...

STILL, with the windows partition gone, and the Master
boot record deleted, it still freezes during
the "Inspecting your computers Hardware configuration"
part of the XP Setup...


Strange...I do not know what to do....