Windows XP installation problem

[eyeCpc]

It strongly points at a bad cable as the least of things since a flaky cable can be somewhat intermittent at times. The optical drive simply on the way out on a old system is no surprise either if the lazer is going or simply a worn drive.

I would point more at hardware with the possible rare exception of a need for a bios update or new battery. Generally once the installer starts it will finish even seeing a bad install unless hardware is getting in the way.

 

[krazyq]

somone i know is having a similar prob.
he installs xp and it installs, but then it says it will reboot and after the reboot, the setup doesnt resume....the pc just keeps restarting.
hes has a xp sp1 disc... but hes tried vista too and same prob...he got an error something like ntrdl...something li ke taht.
and his disks were legit.
Sorry to thread hijack but i was hoping or wondering if this was related to this case.

 

[KSoD]

His case sounds like the format didnt work when he went to install Vista. there was residual stuff left on there from the XP install and it corrupted his Vista install. Vista doesnt use the NTLDR so that wouldnt apply there.

Vista only does a quick format. Would have to do a full format with the XP CD or andother tools like ERD Commander or GParted then install vista.

 

[krazyq]

His case sounds like the format didnt work when he went to install Vista. there was residual stuff left on there from the XP install and it corrupted his Vista install. Vista doesnt use the NTLDR so that wouldnt apply there.

Vista only does a quick format. Would have to do a full format with the XP CD or andother tools like ERD Commander or GParted then install vista.

well ill tell him to try a full format and then see.
he doesnt want vista.
his specs are... q6600, ds3l, 2gb g.skill and 2 old ide hdds.

he tried 3 of his ide hdds and still the same thing.

 

[eyeCpc]

If he uses GParted forget reformatting and delete the existing primaries to see a brand new created for each version. The XP installer and the option to format now seen on the Vista install disk will do that part easy enough.

Vista loves a brand new primary to install onto. I found that out fast enough with multiple drives and replacing XP with Vista. The deletion of the old and creation of a new one will take care of anything that lingers plus provide Vista being a little more fussy a clean primary to go onto. That seems to be the best option for both versions there.

 

[smenon]

IS it possible that this problem is due to the new 128 MB ram I installed? (See my first post for the original question)

 

[EricB]

it's one of these

bad ram

bad xp disc

bad cd rom drive

you ignored this. I've answered this question a million times. yet sometime people choose to ignore my answer to this question. the ones that listen to the answer always comes back and say thanks and then point out which one was the culprit.

it always one of these 3.

run memtest86 to see if it's the ram

 

[smenon]

will this command (memtest86) run in DOS mode?

 

[eyeCpc]

IS it possible that this problem is due to the new 128 MB ram I installed? (See my first post for the original question)

Some system specification might help. Post #5 is where you mention having 256mb of memory installled. If the second 128mb dimm added in was the wrong type that would cause a number of problems to be seen.

 

[smenon]

I will try to remove it and will see if the problem gets solved or not.