Windows XP Pro installation failure, repeatedly...

[Sailesh]

I have a Desktop PII 350mhz fitted with:

Saegate 4.3 GB Hard Drive
Intel i440BX motherboard
128 MB ram
CD-Rom
Floppy

Having used Windows 98 for the past few years, I decided
to get Windows XP PRO installed on this machine.
After formatting the Hard Drive using the Windows 98 boot
disk, i tried installing from the Win XP CD.
After receiving error "failure reading drive ..." i
installed using the 6 floppy setup disks.

I formatted the single partition Hard disk (to NTFS) and
continued installation.
The entire installation went well, even went down to the
usual "1 min remaining" after which the system rebooted.

From here, Windows loading continues upto Welcome Logo,
then black screem with mouse pointer for 2 seconds and
then reboot.
This goes into a continous loop, reboot, initialize,
welcome, black screen, reboot.

I have used F8 with all variations of startup, with
identical result.

After a manual reboot from the CD rom, i even used the
Repair facility which took 39 mins to reinstall some
components.
This again was successful, but on completion the system
reboots and voila!!

The magic loop: reboot, initialize, welcome, black
screen, reboot.

Being a persistent chap i removed all cards (modem,
soundcard, network) from the motherboard save the VGA
adapter.
I formatted the single partition Hard disk (to NTFS) and
reinstalled Windows XP.

The entire installation went well, even went down to the
usual "1 min remaining" after which the system rebooted.

From here, Windows loading continues upto Welcome Logo,
then black screem with mouse pointer for 2 seconds and
then reboot.

The magic loop: reboot, initialize, welcome, black
screen, reboot.

The system does not enter safe mode to explore
possibilities of file or registry corruption.

After checking on the net, i even did a memory test to
verify physical memory integrity, passed OK!
=MemTest-86 v3.1a = = Mar 11, 2004 = = Chris
Brady = http://www.memtest86.com

Also, there are no partition errors, the message at
startup in safe mode shows:
...../partition(1)/windows/system.....

I have run out of possibilities except BIOS (mine is
Award ROM pci/isa bios 4.51 pg with plug n play v1.0
support) incompatibility or settings.

All help is highly appreciated.

Sailesh. (e-mail address removed)

 

[Kelly]

You are stating PII here and 128 ram. That said, had you run the XP
Readiness Test and checked the Requirement and also the Hardware
Compatibility List before starting:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

If so and more to the point, see if this applies and good luck:

Computer Stops Responding with a Black Screen When You Start Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;q314503

Windows XP Stops Responding at the Welcome Screen
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q294/4/27.asp

 

[luminos]

I have run out of possibilities except BIOS (mine is
Award ROM pci/isa bios 4.51 pg with plug n play v1.0
support) incompatibility or settings.

I am sorry to say, there are many other chipset incompatabilities that could
be causing trouble with this older system.

The motherboard chipset may simply not support XP.

 

[Tumbleweed]

I have a Desktop PII 350mhz fitted with:

Saegate 4.3 GB Hard Drive
Intel i440BX motherboard
128 MB ram
CD-Rom
Floppy

Having used Windows 98 for the past few years, I decided
to get Windows XP PRO installed on this machine.

You are wasting your time, not enough ram, not enough disk, too slow CPU,
probably incompatible BIOS, yada yada yada. Go back to Win98 or put Linux on
it. Even then try an older linux.