XP/Pro upgrade won't

[Dan Freeman [MVP]]

I should've known this wouldn't be straight-forward. <g> I had to buy a new
PC because the old one's MoBo fried. It was due for replacement anyway.

The new PC came with WinXP/Home. I purchased the XP/Pro upgrade retail, but
it won't install.

First attempt: when prompted whether I wanted to download latest files for
the upgrade I chose yes. (This was lunchtime. I went off to work assuming it
would go about its stuff while I was gone.)

Got home, and machine is frozen on the same screen still saying "connecting
to Microsoft".

Hmph. I killed it and the machine booted back into XP/Home as if nothing had
happened. Great!

Second attempt: Said NO to downloading <g> and setup proceeded to copy
files. At the end, it rebooted. Got the BIOS splash screen followed by the
XP "Cylon" splash screen ... followed by a black screen and the whole thing
just keeps repeating in a terminal loop.

I *think* I remember a "reboot on error" setting in XP but can't find any
reference to it. I need to turn that off. I can tell there's some sort of
character mode error screen before each reboot but it's brief enough I can't
read it. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I've repeated this several times (always reverting with the vendor's
'restore' image). One of the setup program's options after a failure is to
install whole. That succeeded, but to a partition I didn't even know I had,
and of course I've lost the drivers for video, sound, and the CD/DVD burner
software. (The only software I actually *care* about in this mess. <g> )

I'm open to suggestions. Anyone?

Dan

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

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

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

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

"Dan Freeman" wrote:

| I should've known this wouldn't be straight-forward. <g> I had to buy a new
| PC because the old one's MoBo fried. It was due for replacement anyway.
|
| The new PC came with WinXP/Home. I purchased the XP/Pro upgrade retail, but
| it won't install.
|
| First attempt: when prompted whether I wanted to download latest files for
| the upgrade I chose yes. (This was lunchtime. I went off to work assuming it
| would go about its stuff while I was gone.)
|
| Got home, and machine is frozen on the same screen still saying "connecting
| to Microsoft".
|
| Hmph. I killed it and the machine booted back into XP/Home as if nothing had
| happened. Great!
|
| Second attempt: Said NO to downloading <g> and setup proceeded to copy
| files. At the end, it rebooted. Got the BIOS splash screen followed by the
| XP "Cylon" splash screen ... followed by a black screen and the whole thing
| just keeps repeating in a terminal loop.
|
| I *think* I remember a "reboot on error" setting in XP but can't find any
| reference to it. I need to turn that off. I can tell there's some sort of
| character mode error screen before each reboot but it's brief enough I can't
| read it. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
|
| I've repeated this several times (always reverting with the vendor's
| 'restore' image). One of the setup program's options after a failure is to
| install whole. That succeeded, but to a partition I didn't even know I had,
| and of course I've lost the drivers for video, sound, and the CD/DVD burner
| software. (The only software I actually *care* about in this mess. <g> )
|
| I'm open to suggestions. Anyone?
|
| Dan

 

[Dan Freeman [MVP]]

Thanks so much, Carey!

Dan

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

 

[Dan Freeman [MVP]]

Unfortunately, the relevant links on that page appear to be broken. <sigh>

Thanks anyway!

Dan