XP Setup Disk with CentOS SATA drive

[Guest]

I have a SATA drive with CentOS Linux installed. I want to put XP on the
drive, so I put the XP install CD in the CD-ROM and reboot. I can see "Press
any key to boot from CD...", I press a key, then I quickly see the "Setup is
inspecting" message, it goes away, and then nothing.

I do the same with a Windows 2K install CD, and after "Setup is inspecting"
the blue screen comes up and goes through the install with no issues.

Why can't I boot from the Windows XP install disk with CentOS loaded on the
drive? I tried a blank drive and the install works OK. I want to use the
SATA drive with the CentOS, however.

 

[Guest]

Is the BIOS set to use both SATA & IDE,is it set properly to boot to SATA,by
default a MB disables SATA/RAID.If all is ok,try clearing the CMOS on the
MB,try after that,if still fails,download the mfg MS-DOS disk utility,boot to
utility,wipe the drive clean...

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply.

The XP disk works OK if the drive is empty, but not if it has CentOS. I can
wipe the OS by using something other than the XP install disk, but I'm
wondering why the XP disk does not boot.

There's another extended reason why we need the XP disk to work without
first having to wipe the target drive. So, if I can know why the XP disk
will not boot with CentOS being on the target SATA drive, our problem would
be solved.

 

[peter]

You do have an empty partition to which you are trying to install XP
to.........right??
I mean 2 OS on one partition is a nono................
peter

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply, Peter!

I simply want to have the XP install CD to give me the option to format 100%
of the drive as NTFS and install Windows.

Right now, apparently because there is something on the drive (specifically,
the CentOS Linux), the XP install CD does not even start.

Interestingly, I tried a Windows 2000 CD and the Windows 2000 CD works just
fine. So, same situation regarding CentOS on a drive, with the Windows XP
disk - no go. With the Win2K disk, all is OK.

BTW, I am in a small software company where we are testing some things. I
do not NEED Windows XP on the drive to accomplish any task. I'm trying to
find out why the Windows XP setup disk will not start if CentOS is on the
HDD. The answer is not so much for me to get something done - I need to give
this info to others with this existing situation.

I suspect there is something about the way the drive is formatted, or
something with the MBR, or ???? that causes the Windows XP CD to hang. I'm
just trying to find out why.