Windows installation problem

[Morcs]

Hey guys, I have a problem I need some assistance with.

Id say im fairly damn competent with computer troubleshooting... so only real techies apply

Anyways, my system has been prone to crashing randomly - couldnt find any problem, so ran windows xp disk and low and behold the option to repair the installation appears (not the recovery console)

So I let the installation run and it gets to the point where it reboots for the first time, Then the blue screen appears with 'windows setup is restarting....' - nothing untoward there. After it carrys on the installation it get to the point where a little green bar 3/4 full appears saying 'installing devices', with 33 minutes remaining. Problem is, its just sitting there, and doesnt move for hours.

After numorous attempts to cancel/finish installation and failing, and not finding anything in the bios to avert things, i decided to reset the bios by momentarily removing the battery and re-installing it.

Now when I boot it comes up with 'windows xp home edition' loading screen, then the 'setup is restarting screen, then a blank black screen just with a cursor - and it automatically reboots again and again and I cant break it out of the cycle...

So any ideas peeps... much appreciated... im at a complete loss of ideas here - I cant boot from another disk or anything...

[N1CK]

Windows

I say get a Mac

[Morcs]

Windows

I say get a Mac

Generally macs are for homos.

Id rather have my inferior windows system :P

[riffer]

Just a wild guess but it sounds to me like you've got a problem with a device.

Try pulling the boards out of the pci and/or agp slots, cleaning the contacts with a bit of tissue, and making sure they're placed back in again nicely.

Also, RAM as well.

[Madmax]

Told you it was a crap board
(shared memory)

[Smokin]

I'm picking its just a dodgy install, Format the bugger and start from scratch.

[Sniper]

Windows

I say get a Mac

He was asking for helpful advice....

[Cajun]

EVER NEVER DO A RECOVOERY

always do a format reinstall

a recoverly never really fixes your problems, only time you recover if you are desperate to get some files before you format.

[scracha]

It's likely to be picking up the registry settings from your old install. Format probably isn't an option as you'll lose all your data. Normally installing to a different directory works OK (i.e. WinXP2). Then you have to import the user settings (in the C:\documents & settings\ it'll prefix duplicate usernames with the machine name). Edit the c:\boot.ini file after install to point to the new one and bob's your uncle. Eventually you'll be able to erase the original one.

Other option is to use PARTPE or something that can read NTFS and rename the windows directory (maybe Windows.old) and the boot.ini BEFORE proceeding with a new install.

If the fresh install doesn't work then last ditch effort is to reformat the drive (and don't use the quick format option either) and if that doesn't work your PC is generally fooked and only useful for running carp like Ubuntu.


I'm a sad bastard and have just received my two USB dance-mats to work with StepMania.

[Sam I Am]

Get a MAC ....again not helpfull but the truth!!!

[Big Dog]

Depends....... on several factors.
Do you have another physical drive?
Can you install a going os on that?
Is all your data on a seperate partition from your os like a good boy? If so format your c:\ and reinstall.
But if I were you I would start by take out as many cards as you can start with and then try to allow the remainder of the install.
Modern GPU's usually clash with the install. If you have a built in or a older GPU you could install using that as well. Let xp pull down all its updates then reinstall your card. Long process but you get a chance at keeping your data.
If you need help let me know what night you are cooking me dinner and I will have a look.

[Delphinus]

Take as much hardware out as you can and try a clean install then.
Also test your memory. http://www.memtest.org/

[xwhatsit]

Hey guys, I have a problem I need some assistance with.

Id say im fairly damn competent with computer troubleshooting... so only real techies apply

Anyways, my system has been prone to crashing randomly - couldnt find any problem, so ran windows xp disk and low and behold the option to repair the installation appears (not the recovery console)

So I let the installation run and it gets to the point where it reboots for the first time, Then the blue screen appears with 'windows setup is restarting....' - nothing untoward there. After it carrys on the installation it get to the point where a little green bar 3/4 full appears saying 'installing devices', with 33 minutes remaining. Problem is, its just sitting there, and doesnt move for hours.

After numorous attempts to cancel/finish installation and failing, and not finding anything in the bios to avert things, i decided to reset the bios by momentarily removing the battery and re-installing it.

Now when I boot it comes up with 'windows xp home edition' loading screen, then the 'setup is restarting screen, then a blank black screen just with a cursor - and it automatically reboots again and again and I cant break it out of the cycle...

So any ideas peeps... much appreciated... im at a complete loss of ideas here - I cant boot from another disk or anything...

Attempting to install over an existing installation is recommended by some people (especially in the days of Win98), but I've never had any good results by doing it.

Resetting your BIOS probably changed the boot preferences, so you're now booting directly off your hard disk. Unfortunately, your hard disk has a screwed installation of WinXP -- as you aborted installation halfway through as it did not complete. Not really any way to get out of this, best thing to do is simply to put the hard disk into another machine, copy off all the data you want to keep, then do a format/reinstall. That, barring shitty hardware (always a possibility in consumer x86-land), will allow you to start from scratch and should install perfectly.

If after formatting the hard disk entirely you still can't install Windows, there's obviously a hardware issue. Don't worry about this now, it's a thread topic in itself, and you should just be able to format and reinstall.

[riffer]

Get a MAC ....again not helpfull but the truth!!!

What a load of crap. I've had plenty of problems with Macs, PCs and Suns.

Go away with your fanboy rubbish. When you mature you'll realise that the OS isn't really that important. It's the person controlling the computer that matters.

[Mental Trousers]

Riffers spot on there. Bloody fanboi's (Mac, Windows, *nix etc)

I'd start by pulling as many devices as possible (right down to the bare minimum of ram, hdd and optical drive) and see if it continues on and finishes the install.
Personally, I've never had any problems with doing a repair install. It's much better than reinstalling every single piece of software that I need/want all over again.