Help! Won't fully boot to XP CD

[DeathONator]

I have a 40GB HDD. I have a 5+GB partition for XP and a 30 something GB partition for all my programs and files. I am reinstalling windows on the 5GB partition. When I boot to the XP Pro CD it loads all the drivers and stuff, but it keeps locking up at "Setup is starting Windows".

I have booted to the CD perfectly fine on another computer. What's up w/ this? Why is it locking up? My computer wasn't unstable or anything before... I dunno, I need help.

 

[DeathONator]

Anyone? I have tried running it w/ the 35GB raw, partitioned, partitioned and formated (FAT32), using FDISK; which really shouldn't make a difference on how the space is. I have no clue! HELP!

 

[TechnoNRGKid]

When i try to install windows 98 on my current computer, it locks up on the setup screen also. The reason for this though is a new ati radeon 7000 pci graphics card i installed. It NEVER did that on installs with my other card.

Did you change cards or something? is that card a ati radeon 7000? lol

sorry.

Unstableness. not too much power on your psu or anything right?
More cd drives and crap you throw in your pc, more power, and can draw more power from your power supply unit. causing things to become unstable. If you have a short on wattage.

Just throwing ideas out there.

 

[DeathONator]

Thanks for the reply. The only thing different in my system is I added a 10GB harddrive, but I have unhooked that, changed jumper settings on the 40GB, and re-tried the install. No go either.

I have installed windows 98SE fine. Then I tried to install XP from windows. It get's into the setup, does all the "preinstallation" stuff. But when it reboots after that I can't get back into setup. It freezes at the same place (just all the drivers and stuff loads alot faster before the freeze).

Could it be that it all of a sudden dosn't like my memory? I've always used these sticks and it has worked fine for the last 9 month (2 installs). Also, while I still had the prior installation of XP I tried entering setup thought the CD also, and it still freezed at the same place.

I don't think power is the problem because it's an Antec TRUE550W. I had to reinstall XP 'cause I was playing around w/ my FSB too high (160mhz w/ 1/4 devider), so I think that's what screwed the partition up in the first place.

EDIT: I almost forgot to add: After doing part of the install from 98SE, rebooting as mentioned, then getting locked up again. I rebooted a few more times, and it said on the screen something like "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows Root>\system32\hal.dll.
You need to install another copy of this file."

 

[DeathONator]

AHHH! Problem FIXED! I forgot, I also added a PCI USB card. I took it out and now setup is running FINE!!!!!

 

[TechnoNRGKid]

high latency? could be the cause. glad its solved.

 

[rudnik68]

I've got this same problem running on different hardware. I've tried installing Win XP twice ( this weekend and about 18 months ago ) and have had the same lockup at the "Setup is starting Windows" everytime. The common hardware has been:

MB: KT7A no raid
Video: GF2 MX
NIC: Dlink 10/100
RAM: 2 128MB sticks Micron PC 133
HD: IBM 60 GXP
CPU: Duron 750 @931

Problem remains with CPU downclocked to stock speed and when upgrading or performing fresh install. After reading this post, I'm going to try installing without the NIC. Anyone else have a guess why the installation is hanging? PSU is 400W AMD Approved.

DeathONator - do you have any of this hardware?

 

[TechnoNRGKid]

well if it is high latency on the pci bus, download powerstrip, there's a setting where you can adjust that too lower.

i believe thats what it's for.

 

[rudnik68]

well if it is high latency on the pci bus, download powerstrip, there's a setting where you can adjust that too lower.

i believe thats what it's for.

Power strip won't work out of the windows environment will it? Win XP installs from a boot CD in a command prompt environment. And the powerstrip I downloaded off of downlaod.com (here) was a display utility - do I have the right program?

 

[TechnoNRGKid]

your right, it wont work out of the windows enviroment. my bad on looking closely at the post.

First, try setting your puter to the default jumper settings for stabability. pretty much meaning, if you overclocked it, put it back at default settings. and
only other thing i can think of , if you still cant figure it out, and your out of other options, is take everything possible off of your pci slots even the soundcard, and try installing. id even say try a different graphics card, could be a conflict with it.

 

[rudnik68]

Oddly enough, it was my GF 2 MX that did the trick. I swapped it out for a borrowed TNT card ( that brings back memories ) and install went ahead as planned. THanks for the tip TechnoNRGKid - what kind of MB did you have the XP install lockup occur on? I'm trying to figure out what caused the incompatibility.