XP Install failure

J

Jim Gainsley

XP Pro setup failed during the last 10% or so of the preparing to install
process. This is an upgrade over win98SE. We see in the Resource Kit a ref
to an Article Q303678, which relates to returning a previous system if setup
fails, but we can't find that in the MSKB.

We have attempted to restart with the xp cd and after saying that we want to
continue the upgrade, windows setup continues under Preparing the
Installation. After a few moments we get a screen that says it can't verify
drive C nor access the CD rom drive. It says that we should copy the
installation files to the HD, but we have no idea which files on the CD are
the are the installation files. (We did start the machine in DOS mode and
ran scandisk which showed no errors.)

When we try to start without the CD, we get a message that it can't find the
biosinfo.inf file (In point of fact all of the files in the INF folder have
been deleted.) We're told to press "r" at the first setup screen, but it
does nothing and of course the recovery console is not available yet.

When we boot with the CD and say to do a new install, we do get the recovery
screen which asks which system we want to log onto, but only one choice is
presented, which is the old windows folder (no filename follows) and
choosing "1" does nothing.

We used Cheyenne Backup on the win98se installation and we could just
restore everything from that tape, but we are interested in know how robust
XP is in being able to recover from such problems, we have many machines to
deploy over a period of time.

Any thoughts?

Jim
 
C

Carey Frisch [MVP]

How Do I Use the Windows XP Upgrade Advisor?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/advisor.mspx

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

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| XP Pro setup failed during the last 10% or so of the preparing to install
| process. This is an upgrade over win98SE. We see in the Resource Kit a ref
| to an Article Q303678, which relates to returning a previous system if setup
| fails, but we can't find that in the MSKB.
|
| We have attempted to restart with the xp cd and after saying that we want to
| continue the upgrade, windows setup continues under Preparing the
| Installation. After a few moments we get a screen that says it can't verify
| drive C nor access the CD rom drive. It says that we should copy the
| installation files to the HD, but we have no idea which files on the CD are
| the are the installation files. (We did start the machine in DOS mode and
| ran scandisk which showed no errors.)
|
| When we try to start without the CD, we get a message that it can't find the
| biosinfo.inf file (In point of fact all of the files in the INF folder have
| been deleted.) We're told to press "r" at the first setup screen, but it
| does nothing and of course the recovery console is not available yet.
|
| When we boot with the CD and say to do a new install, we do get the recovery
| screen which asks which system we want to log onto, but only one choice is
| presented, which is the old windows folder (no filename follows) and
| choosing "1" does nothing.
|
| We used Cheyenne Backup on the win98se installation and we could just
| restore everything from that tape, but we are interested in know how robust
| XP is in being able to recover from such problems, we have many machines to
| deploy over a period of time.
|
| Any thoughts?
|
| Jim
 

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