Windows XP Home installation problem

[jonblower]

Hi everyone,

I've recently purchased Windows XP Home and have had some problems installing it.

Firstly, during the "Completing installation" phase I get a pop-up window entitled "COM+ Setup error" with a long message starting "Sub-component COM+ raised an exception while processing the OC_COMPLETE_INSTALLATION setup message..." and error code 0x80040206. I click OK (the only option) to dismiss this.

Secondly (perhaps more importantly), just as installation is about to complete (during the "Saving settings" phase) the machine crashes with a blue screen with a "STOP 0x0000008E" message and something about disabling cacheing and shadowing (whatever they are) in BIOS.

My hardware is a bit old but still should be capable enough:

AMD K6-2 450MHz processor
TI5VG+ motherboard
256 MB RAM (as 2x 128 MB DIMMs)
CD-RW
CD-ROM
40 GB Maxtor hard drive (new, 7200 rpm)
20 GB Quantum Fireball hard drive (old, 5400 rpm)
Voodoo 3 2000 AGP graphics
Sound Blaster Live Platinum 5.1 sound card plus Live Drive
Firewire PCI card
10/100 ethernet PCI card.

The same problems occurred consistently over three or four attempts at installation. Thinking that it was some sort of hardware issue, I stripped the PC down to bare essentials, removing everything but the processor, 128MB RAM, CD-RW, graphics, the 40GB hard drive and the ethernet card. XP then installed without a problem!

What I would like to know is, was the problem due to faulty RAM as the Microsoft knowledge base suggests? I have run DocMemory on all 256 MB of RAM and found no problems, so I'm not sure this was the issue. I wonder if the problem was due to power issues? As you can see from the list above, my humble machine (with a 230W power supply) was fully loaded with add-ons, and I wonder whether easing the load on the power supply did the trick.

Any ideas would be very gratefully received.

Thanks, Jon

 

[ekÆsine]

sometimes it does not work with ecc memory. you will have to use non-ecc memory only and at least 128MB minimum. sometimes old cd-rom drives can not read the winxp cd properly so you can try using a newer cd-rom just to install winxp. and sometimes it plain doesn't work. this happens a lot more than you think with older machines, you get the same problem if you try to install win2000.

 

[oly]

Hi,

My old AMD K6-2 500MHz processor was designed for Windows Nt/98 becasue it is enscripted on the processor it self so installing Windows XP on a AMD K6-2 450MHz processor wouldn't be a good idea.

There is a minimum spec for Windows XP. Didnt you check ?

OLY

 

[jonblower]

Thanks for your replies guys,

To ekaesine - how can I check if I have ECC memory? The CD-ROM wasn't the problem because I installed successfully from it once I'd stripped the computer down; besides, it was a new component.

To oly - I did check the minimum specification and my machine falls well within it (I know Microsoft's minimum spec is likely to be a touch optimistic though). As I said in my post, it's now working fine, I just wanted to know if my original installation problems were due to a RAM problem or overloading my power supply. (BTW, what do you mean when you say that Windows 98/NT was "enscripted on the processor it self"? Do you just mean there was a sticker on the box?)

Jon

 

[jonblower]

Thanks MicroBell, that's very helpful. I put both sticks of RAM back in the machine (after installation had finished) and all appears well. Do you know if there are any issues with *running* WinXP with more than one stick of RAM? I'm considering getting a third 128MB stick, as well as a new (quiet!) power supply.

Thanks again, Jon

 

[Lostman]

Hi,

My old AMD K6-2 500MHz processor was designed for Windows Nt/98 becasue it is enscripted on the processor it self so installing Windows XP on a AMD K6-2 450MHz processor wouldn't be a good idea.

There is a minimum spec for Windows XP. Didnt you check ?

OLY

If the processor is x86 then it will run XP. No if's ands or butts. His issue was a memory issue.


And I suggest getting another stick if you plan on running XP stable with a cpu that old.