Installing windows...

Okay, so I'm working on a computer, I've got the whole thing built up, and it turns on fine. Set it to boot from CD, I've got it to format the harddrive, and install windows, except when it says, "Restarting computer" It never restarts. So, I turn the computer off and boot it up again from the hard drive, and nothing but black appears, so I restart it from the CD and reinstall windows, does the same thing.

Advice?
Thanks in advance.

Bad XP copy?

EDIT: Bah. I double-posted... Ignore this post. Mod delete? Also move thread to XP forum?

I assume that you are refering to windows XP. Do you see the post info from the bios when you trun the computer on? Do you ever see the windows splash screen? it is possible that it really doesn't like your gfx card or screen. if you keep tapping F8 as it start, are you able to get to the windows boot menu?

Bad XP copy?

Advice if "Yes": Get a working copy.

Advice of "No": Try different stuff like installing linux on a partition and see if that works. Or try using another hard drive to check if the that's the problem etc. Or check out Microsoft's XP support http://www.microsoft.com.

Okay, so I got a new copy of XP to see if that was the problem, but nope, did the same thing, just got to the "Restarting computer" screen, and then just froze. I try to hit the power, and reset switches at this point but it's completely locked, the only way is to flip the PSU off.

I don't have another hard drive to test it on, I am thinking that, that may be the problem... but I'm not positive, this is the second hard drive we are on (Cuz the first one was the wrong type >.<) and don't really want to resort to getting an entirely new hard drive again.

are you able to get to the f8 boot menu in windows? also, what are you doing when it asks what partition to install the os on? did you tell it to delete all existing partitions and create a new one? I would wipe everything off the drive and create a single ntfs partition to install the os on. It seems that if you aren't even getting the windows splash screen, it isn't booting the windows kernel at all....or even trying. It is possible if the windows bootloader is fubared....which could result from odd partitioning.

Nephewkp said:

are you able to get to the f8 boot menu in windows? also, what are you doing when it asks what partition to install the os on? did you tell it to delete all existing partitions and create a new one? I would wipe everything off the drive and create a single ntfs partition to install the os on. It seems that if you aren't even getting the windows splash screen, it isn't booting the windows kernel at all....or even trying. It is possible if the windows bootloader is fubared....which could result from odd partitioning.

Click to expand...

I just deleted the partition that was there, and am currently formatting a new partition with the NTFS system, so we'll see what happens with that. Will update after this completes.

First of all...moved this to Microsoft Operating Systems.


Second, have you tried stripping down to the bare minimum hardware for installation? Remove all PCI cards, extra hard drives and extra cd drives.

If your formatting/partitioning adventures fail, try using memtest to make sure your memory is good. Also, you may want to download some hard drive diagnostic software to make sure your hard drive is not corrupted or on its way out.

Good luck!

Matt