XP Installation Problems- Real Weird

raymac45d · November 26th, 2005, 06:46 PM

ok, i have a system that ive been trying to install an OS to, for the last.. forever. there are a couple of threads i prolly created on this site lurking around, about it.

this system was to be made for a friend, but for some reason, Win XP installation, and any other OS install, for that matter, simply will not work.

the mobo is either a DFI or MSI k7, i cant tell since i have no software (that i know of) that will let me tell, with no OS, and all the boxes are jumbled around.
basically, XP installation will not copy files correctly, during the install- after the basic stuff, after you're prompted to format the drive........
ive changed IDE cables, cd romdrives, harddrives, all to pinpoint the problem of why it would fail to copy files...
for instance, it would fail to cop win.ini or even another less important file.

what is the freaking deal? if ive troubleshot all the way through any devices that could be the culprit, does that really leave me at the motherboard itself?
can a motherboard affect the install process?

mobo was purchased last year, new, from a comp warehouse.. not a particularly low end model, the processor is amd 1200+...
256 mb ram

pickel · November 26th, 2005, 06:53 PM

If you have a floppy drive connected , try a win 98 start up disc and see if you can fdisk the drive, then format.

raymac45d · November 26th, 2005, 07:17 PM

are you saying, not to use the built in format tools?
the cd comes with a bootable Partition Magic
and XP installation lets you choose different format options......
better to use an outside format program, then???

large_nostril · November 26th, 2005, 07:18 PM

Quote:

can a motherboard affect the install process?

Yes, if it's faulty, but that's less likely than the rest of what I'm gonna suggest (usually, if the mobo if faulty, you'd know, no question).

My thoughts on what is most likely causing this:

1) The HDD is faulty... You should try to get hold of a diagnostic utility for the drive (most HDD manufacturers have diagnostic tools on their sites).

2) The CD drive can't handle it... Cheap/generic/old drives can cause this kinda prob... I had these same probs installin WinXP about 3 years ago and was rippin my hair out until I simply ripped out the CD-ROM and replaced it with a decent LiteOn drive.

3) A power issue... If your PSU is incapable of powering your system it can easily cause problems like this. But, since an AMD 1200 is goin in that thing I doubt you have any power issues.

4) Your install CD is damaged... If it's damaged it will likely stop on the same files every time.

JPMiller · November 26th, 2005, 07:26 PM

I think LG is on the right track...
Those are all likely culprits...
It can be a bear to troubleshoot this type of thing...
even something as simple as a bad IDE cable can be the issue...
Make sure the CD is clean and unscratched... swap CDroms...etc

shizzzon · November 26th, 2005, 07:32 PM

how about you take that HDD out of his case and put it in yours.

When in windows, use the manuf. diagnostic tool to set it up on your pc, make sure you create a bootable partition if not one already exists.

And also run a test on the hard drive as well to make sure it's good.

Another thing i thought of, dont attempt to install any OS on a system where the HDD is connected to a PCI controller card. Even if the drivers are loaded, i've always had bad luck with them,

Just have the HDD hooked up, just that 1 and at least 1 cd drive all straight to the mobo and see if anything helps so far.

raymac45d · November 26th, 2005, 07:41 PM

the problem is:
ive used several Cd Rom drives, old to brand new. the one currently installed is right out the store.
ive used several harddrives, old to new. 2day ive tried with 3 different ones.
The PSU has been changed out
RAM has been changed out
IDE cables have been changed out
and craziest of all, the install CD does work, as ive just had to use it twice, on other systems.

is there anyway you can store the XP install on a harddrive, and then install from that.. making a way to have everything bootable and whatnot...

shizzzon · November 26th, 2005, 08:00 PM

You can, not by store, obtain Windows Operating system cds that do not have Windows Protect Activation technology in them which you could do then such as SP2.RC2 of WinXP Pro but in all honesty it would be preferred not to go that route.

I was surprised to see that you went through everything... Everything, hehe.

mobo is only a year old, contact manuf. and request RMA.

You can find out who made it by the BIOS string on bootup.

raymac45d · November 26th, 2005, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shizzzon

You can find out who made it by the BIOS string on bootup.

bios string on bootup???

shizzzon · November 26th, 2005, 08:08 PM

it's either at the top or bottom of the first screen on bootup, the screen that detects IDE\Atapi devices and keyboard\mouse.

This "string" is rather long so a little trick is to make sure BIOS is set to halt on all errors or at least keyboard and unplug keyboard and turn pc on or save and exit out of bios with keyboard disconected so the screen can freeze while u right down the bios code.

You only have to do this, if you dont know what kind of mobo you have.