Trouble installing win xp pro

Ive been trying to revert back to windows xp pro from win64 and have been having problems doing so.

I try to install windows xp pro and everytime it will just sit at the windows is inspecting your setup screen. Ive let it sit there for more then 15 mins each time i have tried with it not going into the actual windows setup.

Ive deleted the partition and formatted the drives in windows xp pro on another computer and i have also tried formatting them with the win 64 cd to no avail, i still get stuck at the windows is inspecting your setup screen and it wont go past that point.

I know its not the windows cd as i tried it in another computer and the cddrives are fine with other disks along withe my HD's they will load win 64 with no problems as well.
I dunno what it could be if its something to with my bios settings or what.
Any help would be great.

my system specs are
Asus a8n sli dlx with 1007 bios
2 seagate 120 satas
corsair pc 3200 1 gig
amd 3000+

any help would be great
thanks in advance.

1. Try resetting CMOS, and loading either "Optimized Defaults" or "Failsafe Defaults" in the BIOS. I'm not familiar w/ your particular MB's BIOS structure, so the "Defaults" setting name might be called something different...maybe something like "Load Factory Defaults".
2. Does the BIOS recognize all of your hardware correctly?
3. Have you run Memtest, or any other memory diagnostics?
4. I know you mentioned that you sucessfully formatted your HDD's in another computer, but have you run Seagate's HDD diagnostics software on the drives when connected to your board?
5. Have you double checked all of your connections?...SATA/IDE/HDD, etc.

I had a similar problem installing pro on a brand new disk, kept sticking on inspecting pc. I even left it overnight. Strangely changing the IDE cable fixed the problem for me.

redduc900 said:

1. Try resetting CMOS, and loading either "Optimized Defaults" or "Failsafe Defaults" in the BIOS. I'm not familiar w/ your particular MB's BIOS structure, so the "Defaults" setting name might be called something different...maybe something like "Load Factory Defaults".
2. Does the BIOS recognize all of your hardware correctly?
3. Have you run Memtest, or any other memory diagnostics?
4. I know you mentioned that you sucessfully formatted your HDD's in another computer, but have you run Seagate's HDD diagnostics software on the drives when connected to your board?
5. Have you double checked all of your connections?...SATA/IDE/HDD, etc.

Click to expand...

Yes to all your questions i did the tests and everyting is a ok, i also tried what you guys suggested and no it still hangs at the inspecting pc. Funny thing is when i put teh win 64 disk in it works no problem. Im gonna try switching the sata cables and see if that helps. I guess i may be stuck with win 64.

Well i changed the sata cables and still no luck only win 64 will will install but not win xp pro, i dunno what else to try its starting to get very frustrating .

How exactly are your SATA HDD's connected, and are they setup in a RAID configuration? Are they connected to the NF4 chipset controller, or the Silicon Image SATA controller? It may also help to know how your other drives are connected.

redduc900 said:

How exactly are your SATA HDD's connected, and are they setup in a RAID configuration? Are they connected to the NF4 chipset controller, or the Silicon Image SATA controller? It may also help to know how your other drives are connected.

Click to expand...

The drives are setup in a raid configuration, I have one connected to sata 1 and the other connected to sata 2 on teh nf4 raid controller in my bios i have the raid enabled an dthe silicon one is disabled cause i dont use it.

The system says the raid configuration is healthy and i have it set to boot.
I have a dvd burner and cdrw burner both hooked up to teh ide channel 1 (thats what it says in teh bios) not 0.

sorry about not posting how they are hooked up. Any other info needed please ask

thanks for your help though.

I'd probably suggest entering your RAID BIOS configuration utility, and if you have the option to do so...reset the disks to non-RAID. If you don't have the "Reset Disks to Non-RAID" option available, select "Delete RAID Volume". Exit the RAID utility, and boot up with the floppy containing your Seagate HDD diagnostics utility (if the utility can recognize HDD's connected to a RAID controller). There should be an option in the utility to erase the boot sector...if so, do so to each of the HDD's.

Exit the utility and re-enter the RAID configuration utility. Recreate the RAID 0 array, exit the utility...then re-enter the BIOS to make sure the floppy drive is set as the first boot device (if you have partitioning software available, like Partition Magic for example, boot to PM and partition/format the array....at the same time making the array active.) If you don't have partitioning software available, set your CDROM as the first boot device, insert the XP CD...F10 and exit the BIOS.