booting

[SparkMonkeyHellion]

i tried that first ,but it would only go to 39 mins

When you started the "Repair Installation" were you still in the blue DOS screen or were you already in the GUI? The repair installation is supposed to happen in DOS.

 

[Hefemeister]

repair console is DOS while repair install is GUI.

Edit:
Which ide ports to you have the hard drive and cd drive plugged into on the motherboard?

You want them into the pri_ide and sec_ide channels on the side of the board next to the ram. There is also a raid ide port by the sata ports that you would need extra drivers for so I would not plug into them for either hard drive or cd drive.

 

[eiocan]

plugged into ports by ram,i tried repair in dos,i tried to reinstall with an external dvd ,but still can only get to 39 mins,then ask for disk with sp2 on it,which is in the drive already

 

[SparkMonkeyHellion]

repair console is DOS while repair install is GUI.

Certainly there is the repair console - but the repair install only goes to GUI after reinstalling all the windows components in DOS.

Did you read the directions carefully?

The first DOS prompt says "Hit R to go to repair console"

Skip that and proceed as if you are going to do a fresh install of windows

When you get to the partition selection - it will see that there is already an install of windows - at this point you can choose R to "repair installation" and that is in DOS.

 

[eiocan]

did the repair like you said goes to 39 mins asks for disc,and says the file asms on xp home edition pack 2 is needed

 

[Hefemeister]

Ok how about the disk you are using. Is it scratched at all. Have you tried different ide cables to see if one you have is bad? Have you tried different combinations of cables with the 2 ide slots?

Does the same thing happen when you try a fresh install?

 

[SparkMonkeyHellion]

did the repair like you said goes to 39 mins asks for disc,and says the file asms on xp home edition pack 2 is needed

Is this the same disc you tried to do the install with on the other pc?

It sounds like 2 different versions...

 

[eiocan]

finally got it to install,now its looking for a password to log in,never set password,it says owner and guest both looking for passwords,if i hit ok ,it says it cant log on,that is as far i can get

 

[SparkMonkeyHellion]

now you'll have to get a boot ISO which allows you to clear the passwords in the SAM

Here's the disc that I use to do this:

Break or Reset Administrator password in XP - Tech Salsa

It's a little funky to get used to be it's AWESOME for getting into ANY machine as local admin

 

[Hefemeister]

Correct that would work but at this point why not just do a clean install. Something fishy is going on with that previous install.

You could always check if their is an admin pass set. At login screen press ctl alt del twice to get to login screen. try user: administrator with no password.

If that does not work you can do what sparky suggested or just do a clean install.