I have more than 10 systems and am typically a whiz at computers. I have been installing WIndows XP since long but to my surprise, in one particular system, I am unable to install Windows XP Professional. The computer is a Pentium 4 - 1.7 Ghz on a 845LDM chipset board & 256 DDR. The surprising part, it easily installs windows 98 SE but when we try to load Windows XP Professional as an upgrade or as a fresh install on a different partition, both ways the system stops installing at anywhere between 75-90% of installation. The scrolling messages of Microsoft keeps on displaying as usual & changes also, but the installation does not proceed, nor does the system restart.

When I press the reset key, It says re-installing windows & the whole process repeats.

I have tried changing the SMPS, the RAM, the hard disk, the hard disk cable but to no avail.

Please help.

ScottGem

This may be a longshot but have you tried a) a different CD and b) a different CD Drive? If its consistently stopping at the same point, it could be a problem with either.

Nez

Agree with everything Scott has said,but have you formated the whole drive,without any partitions?.Where it says partition 1,or whatever,have you tried deleating that as well,then starting from a "blank drive".In other words,delete any partitons,format the drive,then let XP install normally.I know you've had over ten years experiance with installs,and that you've probably tried this already.If you have appologies,but just thought I'd ask.


Nez

amitajmera

Yes I have tried changing the CD-Drive & with the same CD, it installs perfectly fine in another PC. The system does not actually hang, as I mentioned earlier, the keystrokes like numlock etc., the mouse, even the microsoft playback keeps working but the hard disk led stops blinking & the percentage of install counter that is to say the reverse timer is stagnant.

Can it be a faulty motherboard....but i would mention again Windows 98 SE loads perfectly fine.

amitajmera

I have tried with a new hard disk & fresh partitioning also but to no avail. Even change of RAM is not helping.

NeedKarma

Perhaps it's a pirated copy?

LTheobald

How about trying a run of scandisk? It might be hitting a bad block on your hard drive.

jnr1234

I heard that we need somekind of software or driver to fully format the hard disk. A computer guy told me that. But unfortunately i don't know what it is

StuMegu

Try removing all but the minimum devices, just leave cpu, ram hdd & graphics etc. it could be falling over on a particular device that uses a different driver than 98. disable any onboard sound & network and remove any unneeded cards.

ScottGem

You need Format.com which is a command line utility. That's ALL you need to format a disk.