XP Home installation never completes, repeats

[Kevin Dietrich]

This week, I purchased a new retail copy of Windows XP Home Upgrade
for a family member's computer that had Windows 98. I started up the
installation from Windows 98 and everything was looking good... until
it got to about 20 minutes left. By that time, it's at the "Finishing
installation" step. When it gets to this point (and I have seen it
about twenty times now), it stops for about 15 minutes then restarts.
When the system comes out of the restart, it goes back to the
"Preparing installation" step with 52 minutes left. If I leave the
system alone, it will do this over and over again.

I have tried using a boot floppy (Win98) to delete the antivirus
software that had previously been installed on there, as well as an
old scanner driver. This only caused scandisk to run on the next
restart. But nothing about the installation changes; it just goes back
to the same starting point.

Where do I go from here?

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please see if the following articles help:

"HOW TO: Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation When
You Upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310064&Product=winxp

"HOW TO: Prepare to Upgrade Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition to
Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316639&Product=winxp

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[Richard Urban]

When the computer reboots and restarts the installation you will get to a
screen where you have to make a choice. If you read you will see that you
can hit F3 to exit the install. After exiting - shut down the computer.

When you restart you will have to go into the bios and set the computer to
look for the hard drive as its first boot option. It is now set for CD ROM.
Change it to the hard drive. Save and exit. The install will now continue!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[ByTor]

This week, I purchased a new retail copy of Windows XP Home Upgrade
for a family member's computer that had Windows 98. I started up the
installation from Windows 98 and everything was looking good... until
it got to about 20 minutes left. By that time, it's at the "Finishing
installation" step. When it gets to this point (and I have seen it
about twenty times now), it stops for about 15 minutes then restarts.
When the system comes out of the restart, it goes back to the
"Preparing installation" step with 52 minutes left. If I leave the
system alone, it will do this over and over again.

I have tried using a boot floppy (Win98) to delete the antivirus
software that had previously been installed on there, as well as an
old scanner driver. This only caused scandisk to run on the next
restart. But nothing about the installation changes; it just goes back
to the same starting point.

Where do I go from here?

Back to the store, give them back the disk, and purchase the "full"
install CD............

Reason being? Do a clean install of an OS, upgrading is almost "always"
asking for trouble.

Also you state from Win98? Exactly how old is this machine & what type
of hardware does it have?

 

[Cyberbear]

Back to the store, give them back the disk, and purchase the "full"
install CD............

Reason being? Do a clean install of an OS, upgrading is almost "always"
asking for trouble.

Also you state from Win98? Exactly how old is this machine & what type
of hardware does it have?

I agree that the OP should probably install the new cleanly.

But, if the OP decides to a full, clean, installation of WinXP,
he can do it with the upgrade disk **if** he has access to the
original Windows 98 CD. No need to go back to the store and spend
more money.

Doing a full installation with the upgrade CD will simply stop
and ask the user to insert a CD from a qualifying product to
upgrade from. Pop in the 98 CD, the OS installer will check it,
then re-insert the XP CD to continue.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

This week, I purchased a new retail copy of Windows XP Home Upgrade
for a family member's computer that had Windows 98. I started up the
installation from Windows 98 and everything was looking good... until
it got to about 20 minutes left. By that time, it's at the "Finishing
installation" step. When it gets to this point (and I have seen it
about twenty times now), it stops for about 15 minutes then restarts.
When the system comes out of the restart, it goes back to the
"Preparing installation" step with 52 minutes left. If I leave the
system alone, it will do this over and over again.

I have tried using a boot floppy (Win98) to delete the antivirus
software that had previously been installed on there, as well as an
old scanner driver. This only caused scandisk to run on the next
restart. But nothing about the installation changes; it just goes back
to the same starting point.

Where do I go from here?

Have you made sure that your PC's hardware components are capable
of supporting WinXP? This information will be found at the PC's
manufacturer's web site, and on Microsoft's Windows Catalog:
(http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx) Additionally, run
Microsoft WinXP Upgrade Advisor to see if you have any incompatible
hardware components or applications.

You should, before proceeding, take a few minutes to ensure that
there are WinXP device drivers available for all of the machine's
components. There may not be, if the PC was specifically designed for
Win98/Me. Also bear in mind that PCs designed for, sold and run fine
with Win9x/Me very often do not meet WinXP's much more stringent
hardware quality requirements. This is particularly true of many
models in Compaq's consumer-class Presario product line or HP's
consumer-class Pavilion product line. WinXP, like WinNT and Win2K
before it, is quite sensitive to borderline defective or substandard
hardware (particularly motherboards, RAM and hard drives) that will
still support Win9x.

HOW TO Prepare to Upgrade Win98 or WinMe
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316639

Upgrading to Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

HOW TO Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation When You
Upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q310064

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Back to the store, give them back the disk, and purchase the "full"
install CD............

Reason being? Do a clean install of an OS, upgrading is almost "always"
asking for trouble.

I'd have to strongly disagree with this statement. Granted, some
people will recommend always performing a clean installation rather than
upgrading an earlier OS. For the most part, I feel that these people,
while well-meaning, are living in the past, and are basing their
recommendation on their experiences with older operating systems. The
OP'd probably save a lot of time by upgrading his PC to WinXP, rather
than performing a clean installation, if there're no hardware or
software incompatibilities. Microsoft has greatly improved (over
earlier versions of Windows) WinXP's ability to smoothly upgrade an
earlier OS.

WinXP is designed to install and upgrade the existing operating
system while simultaneously preserving your applications and data, and
translating as many personalized settings as possible. The process is
designed to be, and normally is, quite painless. That said, things can
go wrong, in a small number of cases. If your data is at all important
to you, back it up before proceeding.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[ByTor]

I'd have to strongly disagree with this statement. Granted, some
people will recommend always performing a clean installation rather than
upgrading an earlier OS. For the most part, I feel that these people,
while well-meaning, are living in the past, and are basing their
recommendation on their experiences with older operating systems. The
OP'd probably save a lot of time by upgrading his PC to WinXP, rather
than performing a clean installation, if there're no hardware or
software incompatibilities. Microsoft has greatly improved (over
earlier versions of Windows) WinXP's ability to smoothly upgrade an
earlier OS.

WinXP is designed to install and upgrade the existing operating
system while simultaneously preserving your applications and data, and
translating as many personalized settings as possible. The process is
designed to be, and normally is, quite painless. That said, things can
go wrong, in a small number of cases. If your data is at all important
to you, back it up before proceeding.

Disagreement noted, we all have our own opinions........I think an issue
like this can go back & forth for days which would not be my intention.
I for one use Win2k Pro and am happy to keep using it.....But as you
mentioned in earlier statements to others, a well maintained system can
eliminate clean installs and all that jazz(trouble shooting is a good
learning experience, I never deny that).....My current Win2k was
installed 3yrs ago & is still rock solid....

But I will agree with you though, but sometimes the easiest, until they
get an education, is a little better for the current un-educated...I
mean at least that's the way I feel about it.........

But thanks for the remarks............

 

[Dev]

Disagreement noted, we all have our own opinions........I think an issue
like this can go back & forth for days which would not be my intention.
I for one use Win2k Pro and am happy to keep using it.....But as you
mentioned in earlier statements to others, a well maintained system can
eliminate clean installs and all that jazz(trouble shooting is a good
learning experience, I never deny that).....My current Win2k was
installed 3yrs ago & is still rock solid....

Are you seriously saying you have not reinstalled your op for THREE YEARS???
That is amazing. May I ask why you are not using Windows XP? I thought that
windows XP was the most stable thing. In fact I was told by guys who used to
use windows 98SE that they regularly reinstalled it as over time the OS
naturally deteriorated.....so I am assuming that is the same for all
operating systems.

 

[ByTor]

Are you seriously saying you have not reinstalled your op for THREE YEARS???
That is amazing. May I ask why you are not using Windows XP? I thought that
windows XP was the most stable thing. In fact I was told by guys who used to
use windows 98SE that they regularly reinstalled it as over time the OS
naturally deteriorated.....so I am assuming that is the same for all
operating systems.

Goes back to my other explanations, IMAGING, imaging, imaging goes a
looooooong way.........I mean don't get me wrong I've had problems but I
avoid them by updating my images each time my OS is stable.....Hence why
I never had to do a clean install in 3yrs......

I have XP on other partitions on this machine & my other faster one. I
have not consistently used it yet as I want to make sure it meets the
demands of the elaborate amount of software I use.....I test & I test,
this is why I have many OS's installed. Win2k, belive it or not, took a
bit of time to catch up in its rock stability.....I view XP as the same,
give the industry time to catch up to it.......Everything XP has to
offer, in some areas, I use 3rd party software for.....And most
important it's a matter of personal preferance also, I like 2K. But I
will agree on one thing, XP is more pronounced in its ease of use for
the average consumer, I'll give it that.....I'm just not ready for it
yet, maybe when they come out with SP4..... ;0)

Windows98SE is beginning to get VERY touchy, especially with the demands
of newer hardware & software.........Yes, it is on it's way out if not
already......It will install on this machine I use, but once I start
trying to install all the EXTRA hardware it goes BLUE screen crazy.....I
don't bother with 98 anymore, on an older machine maybe..........

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Are you seriously saying you have not reinstalled your op for THREE YEARS???
That is amazing. May I ask why you are not using Windows XP? I thought that
windows XP was the most stable thing. In fact I was told by guys who used to
use windows 98SE that they regularly reinstalled it as over time the OS
naturally deteriorated.....so I am assuming that is the same for all
operating systems.

The WinNT-based family of operating systems (WinNT, Win2K, and WinXP)
have always been more stable and longer-lasting than the Win9x-class of
OS. A properly maintain OS installation can easily last two or three
years. At work, I've even got a few workstations that were upgraded
from WinNT to Win2K over two years ago, and they're still ticking along.

FYI, for future reference, comparing WinXP to Win98 is a lot like
comparing a Lexus to a Yugo -- the only similarities are entirely
superficial.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Dev]

Goes back to my other explanations, IMAGING, imaging, imaging goes a
looooooong way.........I mean don't get me wrong I've had problems but I
avoid them by updating my images each time my OS is stable.....Hence why
I never had to do a clean install in 3yrs......

Ahh!! So thats the secret is it.LOL I better starting getting the books out
on this here imaging business.

I have XP on other partitions on this machine & my other faster one. I
have not consistently used it yet as I want to make sure it meets the
demands of the elaborate amount of software I use.....I test & I test,
this is why I have many OS's installed. Win2k, belive it or not, took a
bit of time to catch up in its rock stability.....I view XP as the same,
give the industry time to catch up to it.......Everything XP has to
offer, in some areas, I use 3rd party software for.....And most
important it's a matter of personal preferance also, I like 2K. But I
will agree on one thing, XP is more pronounced in its ease of use for
the average consumer, I'll give it that.....I'm just not ready for it
yet, maybe when they come out with SP4..... ;0)

Windows98SE is beginning to get VERY touchy, especially with the demands
of newer hardware & software.........Yes, it is on it's way out if not
already......It will install on this machine I use, but once I start
trying to install all the EXTRA hardware it goes BLUE screen crazy.....I
don't bother with 98 anymore, on an older machine maybe..........

Yes, even I noticed that some software just doesn't seem to work so well
with 98se, I totally am in touch with your feelings with regard to "blue
screen crazy"!!!

I think maybe 98SE is perhaps on its last legs now, if you need it for main
stream computing. >

 

[Dev]

The WinNT-based family of operating systems (WinNT, Win2K, and WinXP) have
always been more stable and longer-lasting than the Win9x-class of OS. A
properly maintain OS installation can easily last two or three years. At
work, I've even got a few workstations that were upgraded from WinNT to
Win2K over two years ago, and they're still ticking along.

Seems "reinstalling" will soon be a thing of the past.

FYI, for future reference, comparing WinXP to Win98 is a lot like
comparing a Lexus to a Yugo -- the only similarities are entirely
superficial.

This really is an enlightenment, so with that in mind what would you have
said was the normal time for reinstalling a windows 98SE OS compared to XP?

Presumably the consensus would be that XP if properly looked after and
maintained should theoretically not need to be reinstalled (often).

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Are you seriously saying you have not reinstalled your op for
THREE
YEARS???

I'm not the person to whom you are replying, but I'll throw in my
two cents. On my own machines, I've used Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG
3.11 Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000 Professional, and
Windows XP. I've had each of them installed basically since they
first came out and until the next newer version was available.
That's a period of roughly 15 years. In that 15 years, I've never
reinstalled any of these.

Over that same period, I've also installed and maintained Windows
for many other people, and never reinstalled for any of them
either.

I don't think that's amazing at all. Despite the advice of most
techs at major OEMs, who usually tell you to reinstall any time
you have a problem they can't quickly solve (which is most
problems) because it always works and is the easiest solution for
them, reinstalling is very seldom necessary.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup



That is amazing. May I ask why you are not using Windows XP?

 

[Steve N.]

Are you seriously saying you have not reinstalled your op for THREE YEARS???
That is amazing.

My Win2K installation here is over four years old. I just maintain it
and don't do dumb things to screw it up. Have I had problems? Yes. Have
I needed to nuke and re-install to fix them? Not in over four years.

May I ask why you are not using Windows XP? I thought that
windows XP was the most stable thing.

Win2K is very stable, as is WinXP, provided you have good hardware and
practice safe computing and do regular maintenance. I use both OSes
without problems at home.

To be honest, I used to be of the opinion that 2K was more stable than
XP but that was because at the time my only experience with XP was with
crappy OEM pre-installs riddled with file system problems due to bad
factory imaging on marginal hardware, and come to think of it I've had
the same amount of problems with crappy OEM pre-installs on marginal
hardware with quite a few 2K machines, too.

In fact I was told by guys who used to
use windows 98SE that they regularly reinstalled it as over time the OS
naturally deteriorated.....so I am assuming that is the same for all
operating systems.

A common practice based on misconceptions held by people who can't keep
their OSes clean and healthy in the first place. I have an old 6GB hard
drive with Win98se on it that has never failed to boot up and work fine
in 7 or 8 different systems and for so many years I've lost count. All
I've ever need to do is change some hardware drivers. For that matter,
we've got some *ancient* Win95 installations where I work that still
crank right along. I've got a very old Zenith Data Systems laptop that
runs DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 flawlessly and I have no idea how old
that installation is. So no, OSes do not naturally deteriorate, not in
my direct experience.

If there are problems then there are causes, find the causes and then
you can fix the problems. Granted, some situations and conditions are
beyond the understanding of many users and for them the easiest thing to
do probably is to backup their files, nuke, and re-install, however this
is not due to problems with the OS itself.

Steve

 

[Malke]

My Win2K installation here is over four years old. I just maintain it
and don't do dumb things to screw it up. Have I had problems? Yes.
Have I needed to nuke and re-install to fix them? Not in over four
years.


Win2K is very stable, as is WinXP, provided you have good hardware and
practice safe computing and do regular maintenance. I use both OSes
without problems at home.

To be honest, I used to be of the opinion that 2K was more stable than
XP but that was because at the time my only experience with XP was
with crappy OEM pre-installs riddled with file system problems due to
bad factory imaging on marginal hardware, and come to think of it I've
had the same amount of problems with crappy OEM pre-installs on
marginal hardware with quite a few 2K machines, too.


A common practice based on misconceptions held by people who can't
keep their OSes clean and healthy in the first place. I have an old
6GB hard drive with Win98se on it that has never failed to boot up and
work fine in 7 or 8 different systems and for so many years I've lost
count. All I've ever need to do is change some hardware drivers. For
that matter, we've got some *ancient* Win95 installations where I work
that still crank right along. I've got a very old Zenith Data Systems
laptop that runs DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 flawlessly and I have no
idea how old that installation is. So no, OSes do not naturally
deteriorate, not in my direct experience.

If there are problems then there are causes, find the causes and then
you can fix the problems. Granted, some situations and conditions are
beyond the understanding of many users and for them the easiest thing
to do probably is to backup their files, nuke, and re-install, however
this is not due to problems with the OS itself.

I totally agree with Steve on this. I have a Win95 box that has been
chugging along since the day I installed it. The various Win98 boxen
are very healthy. One kid is now dual-booting Win98SE and XP Pro and
I've never had to reinstall either os - that box has been in operation
for several years. Full disclosure - I did have to do a Repair Install
when I upgraded his motherboard, but that was a piece of cake. I also
had to reinstall XP on the other son's computer, but that was because
the hard drive died, not because the os failed. My own XP box has been
running the same installation since XP first came out. Same for the two
Win2k boxen. I even have two DOS machines that are the original
installations.

I do think that Win2k and XP are the most *stable* of the MS non-server
operating systems, but even the older ones were just fine if you took
care of them.

Malke

 

[ByTor]

My Win2K installation here is over four years old. I just maintain it
and don't do dumb things to screw it up. Have I had problems? Yes. Have
I needed to nuke and re-install to fix them? Not in over four years.


Win2K is very stable, as is WinXP, provided you have good hardware and
practice safe computing and do regular maintenance. I use both OSes
without problems at home.

To be honest, I used to be of the opinion that 2K was more stable than
XP but that was because at the time my only experience with XP was with
crappy OEM pre-installs riddled with file system problems due to bad
factory imaging on marginal hardware, and come to think of it I've had
the same amount of problems with crappy OEM pre-installs on marginal
hardware with quite a few 2K machines, too.


A common practice based on misconceptions held by people who can't keep
their OSes clean and healthy in the first place. I have an old 6GB hard
drive with Win98se on it that has never failed to boot up and work fine
in 7 or 8 different systems and for so many years I've lost count. All
I've ever need to do is change some hardware drivers. For that matter,
we've got some *ancient* Win95 installations where I work that still
crank right along. I've got a very old Zenith Data Systems laptop that
runs DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 flawlessly and I have no idea how old
that installation is. So no, OSes do not naturally deteriorate, not in
my direct experience.

If there are problems then there are causes, find the causes and then
you can fix the problems. Granted, some situations and conditions are
beyond the understanding of many users and for them the easiest thing to
do probably is to backup their files, nuke, and re-install, however this
is not due to problems with the OS itself.

Steve

Well put........ ;0)

 

[Steve N.]

Well put........ ;0)

Thank you and Happy New Year!

Steve

 

[Steve N.]

Steve N. wrote:




I totally agree with Steve on this. I have a Win95 box that has been
chugging along since the day I installed it. The various Win98 boxen
are very healthy. One kid is now dual-booting Win98SE and XP Pro and
I've never had to reinstall either os - that box has been in operation
for several years. Full disclosure - I did have to do a Repair Install
when I upgraded his motherboard, but that was a piece of cake. I also
had to reinstall XP on the other son's computer, but that was because
the hard drive died, not because the os failed. My own XP box has been
running the same installation since XP first came out. Same for the two
Win2k boxen. I even have two DOS machines that are the original
installations.

I do think that Win2k and XP are the most *stable* of the MS non-server
operating systems, but even the older ones were just fine if you took
care of them.

Malke

Thanks Malke and Happy New Year!

Steve

 

[ByTor]

Thank you and Happy New Year!

Steve

Back at ya.... ;0)