Windows XP installation keeps restarting

[and_woox]

I'm trying to install Windows XP on a machine, on the beginning everything goes fine (from booting from the CD to copying the setup files) but when it gets to the part to restart the computer to continue the installation(to start the part when the Windows user interface appears) the computer restarts(part of the installation process) but the screen "Press any key to boot from the CD..." appears again and automatically the computer goes to the beggining of the installation process again.
Do you have any idea of what could be happening?
Thank you

 

[KSoD]

Sounds like it is not copying the boot files over properly. Where did you get this XP CD from?

 

[threadmark]

In the bios is the hdd set as a boot device because I know that windows install process will install the os on the hdd but if its not set to boot in the bios that may be why. If that's not it try reformat to ntfs and check for errors.
Regards TM

 

[KSoD]

The hard drive cant be set to be the primary boot device. It would be impossible for you to boot from the CD to start the install process. So you must have the Optical Drive be the first device in order to even get the XP CD install screens.

The issue is that it isnt copying or installing the boot information correctly. I have seen this issue before. Sometimes it is as easy as just going into the XP Recovery Console and using the fixboot and fixmbr commands, sometimes the disk itself is corrupted and the user needs to get a new one.

 

[texashiker]

Does the drive already have an operating system on it?

If you have another computer - some cd/dvd burning software can create you a DOS boot disk. Create yourself a boot disk, start the system in dos, and fdisk /mbr the /mbr switch deletes the master boot record on the drive.

From there run /fdisk, delete all of the partitions, and restart the install of windows.

Warning - running fdisk will delete all of the data on the drive.

I'am going to guess that something is stopping windows from copying all of the needed files, or stopping windows from making changes to the MBR on the hard drive.

 

[KSoD]

Sorry but fdisk is an old and outdated tool. Using something like GParted will get you the same results, faster and give you a nice neat interface to use as well instead of trying to remember commands. Plus fdisk is limited due to the fact it cant recognize drives larger than 137GB. Since DOS couldnt either and that limitation wasnt removed in DOS at all. It wasnt till XP SP2 that the limit was removed. So if the drive is large, as most of them are now, fdisk will waste space on the drive.

The Fdisk.exe utility may not be able to create a hard disk partition that is larger than 128 GB

 

[texashiker]

Sorry but fdisk is an old and outdated tool.

Yea, I guess I am a little old and outdated in certain things. I still use a DOS based start up disk and fdisk to wipe a drive clean. Its the way I have been doing it for the past 14+ years. I have not used fdisk to create a partition in a long time, that is left to the windows installer.

Learning the commands - that is one of the differences between the older and newer generation. Back in "the day" most people knew some kind of dos command. And these days, people say "whats DOS?"

I'll take a look at the file you linked to and burn me a disk for the next time I set a system up.

 

[KSoD]

Oh dont get me wrong, i still remember all of the DOS commands. Heck i still use a lot of them in the Command Prompt and Power Shell. Being a 15+ year person in PC's myself i fully know where your coming from. But the truth is now with 1TB Drives and higher fdisk just cant cut it anymore. With a drive size limitation it has basically phased itself out. I learned the hard way of these limits.

I just wanted to point in the right direction for people who see the thread. Cause while i do love the olden days of DOS and Windows, fdisk isnt something that should be recommended for todays drives.