Installing Windows for dummies....

jaqu · November 5th, 2007, 07:37 AM

Hello guys. Im battling with installing windows and wondering if anyone ever seen a problem like this.

After deciding to do a wondows repair on my hard drive(had some scary virusses on my pc), my windows wont boot up. It goes upto the point where it first displays Windows XP with that very uninformative progress bar, then the bar stops and it hangs.

So now I decided to completely reinstall windows, and after the first restart just after the format of the drive...again! It hangs at exactly the same place.

Has anyone seen an error like this before?

osprey4 · November 5th, 2007, 08:15 AM

A few things to check:
1. Did you unplug all peripherals except the monitor, keyboard and mouse?
2. You might have a hard drive problem. Most of the hard drive manufacturers have diagnostic tests you can run from a floppy or flash drive.
3. There might be other hardware problems. Do you get any POST beeps or other errors?

If you posted your system details, like the make and model, it might help.

jaqu · November 5th, 2007, 09:37 AM

Answers :
1. Yes
2. No I did not run any HD diagnostic tests (exep chkdsk)
3. No, no beeps or errors of ANY kind.

Didnt post sys details because I thought it irrelevant for the error as the system worked perfectly (exept for mal-behaviour cuz of virus) until I did a windows repair.

Sys details :
Celeron D 2.4 on INTEL MOBO
Seagate 40 GB P-ATA HDD
512MB DDR333 (2x256)
stiffy drive
AOPEN DVD ROM
BENQ CD-RW
PS2 keyboard and mouse
300W PSU

osprey4 · November 5th, 2007, 08:56 PM

Run the Seagate diagnostics. If that looks ok, I'd just try again. You said you formatted the drive, meaning you used the XP installation routine to delete the current system partition, right?

jaqu · November 6th, 2007, 02:18 AM

uhm yes. Do you suggest I format it in DOS?

jaqu · November 6th, 2007, 09:12 AM

Ok I formatted in DOS now, and ran Seatools diagnostics (although some tests would not run).
But what is strange is that there is nothing wrong with the drive! I had it in a USB cradle and I can read data and write data to it. Which would make me think that it is maybe other hardware at fault...exept that this worked fine until I ran windows repair! (no new or replaced hardware)

BTW I also tried to startup in safemode and it does exactly the same.

Im very close to chucking this hard drive so please help, I know im not the first one ever to hav had this problem.

Thanks

jaqu · November 8th, 2007, 08:38 AM

WOW!! More than one hundred views and no one can help, or just dont want to help..

BTW the problem is not with the Hard Drive, cuz I put in a different one and again the exact same problem.

pullmyfoot · November 8th, 2007, 12:05 PM

i myself cant help, but maybe because most people cant... its a very specific question that the majority of people woulnt know how to fix... you got 2 people to help and thats better than nothing. and the 100 people includes visitors i think. just wait awhile more and someone who knows something may answer you. in the meantime, heres a bump for you

soad1789 · November 8th, 2007, 05:00 PM

I would try to obtain a copy of Linux or some other OS to try and install and see if that works, that way you can determine if it's a hardware problem or a problem with your copy of Windows.

jaqu · November 9th, 2007, 04:11 AM

soad1789 is owning!!! soad you solved it. I had an old Compaq win xp sp1 cd lying around, and I tried it and it solves the problem! Understand why I didnt think of this, I have a genuine win xp sp2 cd, with no scraches or anything on it. I dont get why it will do this.

I just have a bit of a licensing issue with my SP1 cd, but at least the problem is solved.

Thanks