XP Not Formatting New Drive

[Jack Bruss]

I've just built a system for my Mom and I'm having a problem loading XP, and
partitioning/formatting the drive.

I'm booting from the new XP CD, and what I see on screen is that XP is
inspecting for hardware, then there is a screen that says Windows setup,
then it loads files for about 30 seconds, then is says Setup is starting
windows, and then it hangs. When I reset and try again, I get to the same
point, but then I get an error message that says "a problem has been
detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to the computer."
Below that is says "driver IRQL not less or equal".

I thought the XP CD would give me the option to partition and format the
drive before it tried to load or install.

I tried to boot from an older copy of XP with the same results. All fans
are working. The hard drive appears in CMOS. I do not have a floppy in the
system yet (I don't have one here, but am planning on using my Moms old
one).

This is an Athlon 2500 system on a Shuttle AN35N-Ultra board with a Seagate
40G ST3400.

Any idea what the problem is?

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Jan Alter]

Hi,

Since this is a new build then it's easily possible that there's
something amiss in the bios settings for your particulr system. Make sure
that you have default settings loaded. Also make sure that the hard drive is
recognized by the bios as well before beginning. In addition remove every
piece of extraneous peripheral that is not necessary; such as a second
optical drive, sound card network card, modem, etc. You shouldn't have to
worry about a floppy at all for an XP install.
If you have two sticks of RAM there might be a problem with one of them.
Take out one of them and try the install again. If you get the same error
try interchanging the sticks.
Until you mentioned it I wasn't aware that there was a 'newer' version of
XP. I guess the newer version comes with the the patches in place.
Good luck.

 

[Dave C.]

I've just built a system for my Mom and I'm having a problem loading XP, and
partitioning/formatting the drive.

I'm booting from the new XP CD, and what I see on screen is that XP is
inspecting for hardware, then there is a screen that says Windows setup,
then it loads files for about 30 seconds, then is says Setup is starting
windows, and then it hangs. When I reset and try again, I get to the same
point, but then I get an error message that says "a problem has been
detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to the computer."
Below that is says "driver IRQL not less or equal".

I thought the XP CD would give me the option to partition and format the
drive before it tried to load or install.

I tried to boot from an older copy of XP with the same results. All fans
are working. The hard drive appears in CMOS. I do not have a floppy in the
system yet (I don't have one here, but am planning on using my Moms old
one).

This is an Athlon 2500 system on a Shuttle AN35N-Ultra board with a Seagate
40G ST3400.

Any idea what the problem is?

Thanks,

Jack

How is the drive hooked up to the motherboard? (which specific connector)
Is there anything else installed on the same cable as the hard drive? How
is the hard drive jumpered? -Dave

 

[Russell]

Hi Jack,

1. Check hardware components. Verify that all of your hardware is on the
Windows XP Hardware Compatibility List at http://www.microsoft.com/hcl/ .
Also, read the "Check System Compatibility" topic on the Windows XP CD-ROM
to find out about potential software and hardware incompatibility.

2. During the installation startup, press F5 when the "Setup is inspecting
your computer's hardware configuration" message appears. When you are
prompted, specify the correct computer type and hardware abstraction layer
(HAL). For example, if you have a single processor, specify the "Standard
PC" HAL.

3. Remove all adapters and disconnect all hardware devices that are not
absolutely required to start the computer and install Windows. This means
just leave the CPU, memory, graphics card, boot hard drive and the CD you're
using to install XP with. Check to see that the heatsink and CPU fan are
installed correctly (heatsink making complete contact with the processor and
the fan is plugged into the mobo and running.)

4. Verify that the Master/Slave/Only settings for the IDE devices are
correct.

5. Check the memory modules with Memtest86, which you can download from
http://www.memtest86.com and make sure that they are installed tightly in
the correct slots.

6. Contact Shuttle to see whether there are any known issues about running
or installing Windows XP. They might be able to help you with a BIOS upgrade
flash or an updated driver necessary to slipstream with an F6 floppy during
the Windows installation.

7. Additionally, you can turn off the following features in the
motherboard's BIOS settings, if it will allow you. Refer to the motherboard
manual for specifics related to your motherboard:
a. All caching, including L2, BIOS, internal/external, and write-back
caching on disk controllers
b. All shadowing
c. Plug and Play
d. Any BIOS-based virus protection feature

I know this is kind of wordy and technical, but the symptoms you describe
likely point toward an incompatible, incorrectly installed or faulty
hardware component. I hope this solves the issue and gets you up and
running.

Russell,
http://tastycomputers.com