Windows XP Home install hangs

[Rob]

system Hangs on

Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware
configuration...

I have formated HD
Removed all PCI cards
swaped video cards 64MB to 8MB
copyed entire I386 dir to HD ran WINNT through
and rebooted from both HD & CDROM

Only difference HD light stays lit when booted from HD.

 

[Randy Byrne [MVP]]

A few things pop to mind here.

Although remote, you may have a memory module going bad. Had to say that before
heading into the possible HD problem path.

The first reformat may have exposed a defect on the hard drive. A diagnostic tool
from the manufacture should be available to test the HD itself.

With all of the hardware pulling and changing, an IDE cable may have come loose.
Pulling a resetting the cables would be a good check of this. And on this line, was
the HD on the IDE cable by itself? Or did you remove a device. If you did remove a
device, did you verify that the remain HD didn't need a jumper reset to be
standalone?

Did you change any BIOS settings? Some of those can cause strange things to occur.

Are you overclocking? No judgment here, but MS OS installation programs have a track
record of being finicky in overclocked systems. Maybe setting the clock to normal to
do the install, then return to the overclocked state.

I think we would need more info to get much further...

--
Randy Byrne
Microsoft MVP (Windows Technologies)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/mvp
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

Do not email me, please use the newsgroup so that everyone benefits.

 

[Rob]

Thanks for your time.
I have gone as far as swaping out the motherboard & HD.
Since swaping out the board I rechecked cables and
jumpers verifiying in CMOS and bootup screen. HD Master
& CDROM slave. I have tried to reinstall Windows ME and
get hung up on Please wait while setup initializes
scanning system registry... Copying files needed for
windows setup. I have two sticks of 256 SDRAM and have
swapped each one out. I have fdisked formated and same
senerio again. I can't even reload windows 95!

I am at my wits end. whats left?

-----Original Message-----
A few things pop to mind here.

Although remote, you may have a memory module going bad. Had to say that before
heading into the possible HD problem path.

The first reformat may have exposed a defect on the hard drive. A diagnostic tool
from the manufacture should be available to test the HD itself.

With all of the hardware pulling and changing, an IDE cable may have come loose.
Pulling a resetting the cables would be a good check of this. And on this line, was
the HD on the IDE cable by itself? Or did you remove a device. If you did remove a
device, did you verify that the remain HD didn't need a jumper reset to be
standalone?

Did you change any BIOS settings? Some of those can cause strange things to occur.

Are you overclocking? No judgment here, but MS OS

installation programs have a track

 

[Randy Byrne [MVP]]

It's not a good idea to have the hard drive and CDROM on the same IDE channel. This
has been problematic since IDE CDROMs came into being. No sure if this is the issue,
but it may be.

--

Randy Byrne
Microsoft MVP (Windows Technologies)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/mvp
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Do not email me, please use the newsgroup so that everyone benefits.

 

[Rob]

you the man!! I got past the original problem and got to
94% done when it hangs on a blue screen
Setup is copying files...

at the bottom right it shows copying SP1.cab
I tried to reboot and I get a completly different error,
so I am reformating and reinstalling but will leave it
over night. Thanks for your attention.

 

[Randy Byrne [MVP]]

We're getting a little further.

I suspect your CDROM drive setup is amiss. What happened when you tried to reload
Win95? Having the CDROM jumpered as cable select and on the end of the cable alone,
should result in it being a secondary master. Something is still not right. At this
point I feel that either CDROM drive is going bad or you should abandon the cable
select and jumper it as a master and keep it on the secondary channel by itself.

--

Randy Byrne
Microsoft MVP (Windows Technologies)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/mvp
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Do not email me, please use the newsgroup so that everyone benefits.