XP Pro install fails at start of windows setup phase-Acer 3630 Lap

[Guest]

I am trying to help this young couple get their Acer 3630 (1 yr old) laptop
working,
When they gave it to me no matter what you chose from the boot menue safe
mode, start normally safemode with command prompt, it would immeditaly reset
itself(just like you had pushed the reset button) I eventually fdisked and
formatted the hard drive and tried to reinstall XP pro. Everything goes fine
in the file copying text mode the files all get copied to the new hard drive,
but when the message comes up( I believe it is) "starting windows to complete
setup, those words freeze on screen and it stays there. It seam like it cant
switch from the text to graphics mode of the install.
I am not sure this is related but it seems like I never get the
partioning or drive format phase of the setup at the begining it goes write
to file copying, after asking if I want to load disk drivers or start
automatic repair mode.
I have never worked with any recent vintage laptops so I don't know how
they may differ from desktops which haven't given me any XP install problems.
You wisdom would be appreciated, thanks in advance

 

[Stefan Z Camilleri]

Acer 3630

I once had a very similar problem, in contrast, it was on a desktop... yet
the form factor doesn't really make a difference here.

My solution was simply obtaining another Windows XP installation

I would have said that it might be corrupted RAM, but since it always
freezes at the same identical spot, then I'm not too sure it can be ram..
likewise it doesn't hurt to check

 

[Guest]

What is embaraasing is I do this kind of thing for a living and I pride
myself in solving the tough questions this one has got me sutmped. If it
were a desktop I might try swaping out componants, i.e. different video card
different memory even different processor. My guess is this wouldn't help
because the laptop was working and bovioulsy those three compnants are at the
very least partially working.
When I first looked at this laptop I got the error that the files in
C:\windows\system32\config were missing in particular the one simply named
system (with no extension) If I could have found away to simply replce
them maybe that would have worked, but it seems once I wiped the hard drive
and started a reinstall I was dead cause I can never get it to start the
windows part of the setup it either hangs or reboots.
My current theory is that either this laptop needs a special video,
chipset or ide driver to go into "protected or windows graphics mode" or
their is some kind of hard drive protection scheme in the cmos that prevents
certain op system related writing to the hard drive.
Any help would be appreciated. If you can suggest a test I might do (I
would rather not buy an odd memory stick just to test that) would be
appreciated.

 

[Stefan Z Camilleri]

What is embaraasing is I do this kind of thing for a living and I pride
myself in solving the tough questions this one has got me sutmped. If it
were a desktop I might try swaping out componants, i.e. different video
card
different memory even different processor. My guess is this wouldn't
help
because the laptop was working and bovioulsy those three compnants are
at the
very least partially working.
When I first looked at this laptop I got the error that the files in
C:\windows\system32\config were missing in particular the one simply
named
system (with no extension) If I could have found away to simply
replce
them maybe that would have worked, but it seems once I wiped the hard
drive
and started a reinstall I was dead cause I can never get it to start the
windows part of the setup it either hangs or reboots.
My current theory is that either this laptop needs a special video,
chipset or ide driver to go into "protected or windows graphics mode"
or
their is some kind of hard drive protection scheme in the cmos that
prevents
certain op system related writing to the hard drive.
Any help would be appreciated. If you can suggest a test I might do
(I
would rather not buy an odd memory stick just to test that) would be
appreciated.

Sounds like this Acer has some specific drivers as you are saying.

I would go about it in one of two ways... or both

1- try to obtain the windows xp installation cd that came with the
notebook itself. As you are saying, it might have some specific drivers
that are slipstreamed into the cd.
2- another trick that at times works, is to install windows 2000, install
all required drivers, and then upgrade it to xp

Needless to ask i guess, but just in case, try to reset the bios to
default values and check the bios update pages maybe there were some
related fixes for this model.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Stefen I tried your advice, but with Windows 98, The installation
failed but I got two error messages one was Invalid vxd dynamiclink call to
device 3 service b, I googled it and most of the hits had to do with bad
memory modules.
This pursuaded me to download a good meory test program I could run from a
dos prompt or custom boot disk. The test showed multiple errors so its is
99% certain it is a bad module. The mistake I now relalized I made was to
not have a good memory tester I could run from a CD (no floppys anymore on
laptops). If I had done that erly on I would have saved hours.
Thanks you pointed me in right direction.

 

[Stefan Z Camilleri]

Thanks Stefen I tried your advice, but with Windows 98, The installation
failed but I got two error messages one was Invalid vxd dynamiclink call
to
device 3 service b, I googled it and most of the hits had to do with bad
memory modules.
This pursuaded me to download a good meory test program I could run from
a
dos prompt or custom boot disk. The test showed multiple errors so its
is
99% certain it is a bad module. The mistake I now relalized I made was
to
not have a good memory tester I could run from a CD (no floppys anymore
on
laptops). If I had done that erly on I would have saved hours.
Thanks you pointed me in right direction.

Bugger, ram can be such a &^&^&% at times

Glad to have been of help