XP Install trouble

Beecher

Hopefully someone can help me here. My mate picked up a pc recently (AMD 4800+ X2, 2 gigs ram, x700 etc) and for some reason XP wont install on it. Windows 2000 / Vista will install fine but for some reason XP hangs during the installing devices section of the install. Ive removed practically all the hardware bar the motherboard, one stick of ram (ive tried both of them seperatly), different hard drives (sata, ide), different optical drives I really need to get xp onto this but I cant figure out whats wrong

8T8

Does the XP that your using have SP2 slipstreamed into it ?

Kimbot

Or is the disc scrathed?

h8red

I had the exact same problem a couple of weeks ago. After a lot of fluting around with different HDs, RAM, graphics cards I gave up cos I just wasn't inclined to spend much time on a machine that was a few years old and wasn't worth it (to me). I did notice an area on the mobo where something had spilled (maybe just a drop) and there was a little bit of corrosion. So I told him that it was a problem with the motherboard. But it had to have been a problem with either the mobo or processor as I had eliminated everything else.

I think it hangs right before the language options should come up during setup (around 34 min left). I was using a CD with SP2 included.

Beecher

8T8 wrote:

Does the XP that your using have SP2 slipstreamed into it ?

Yup.

jonny24ie wrote:

Or is the disc scrathed??

Brand new disk, looks spotless.

h8red wrote:

I think it hangs right before the language options should come up during setup (around 34 min left). I was using a CD with SP2 included.

Yeah, this happens at 36 mins left while detecting devices.

I grabbed an old harddrive from another computer I had lying around which already had xp installed on it and just lashed it into the computer. It seemed to run fine until we tried to install SP2 on it and now it just restarts when XP boots up. The only thing I can think of is checking for any bios updates but beyond that im out of idea's.

joePC

Sounds like the dual core processor causing the issue.

Go into the BIOS and disable the 2nd core, and underclock the CPU down to about 1Ghz - XP will install now will be a little bit slower.

When installed reset the BIOS settings back to normal and all will be working.

Good luck, Cheers, Joe

Mr. Presentable

I have had a quick rummage on the net and found a couple of things.

1 XP can take 30 mins to detect devices. Are you leaving it long enough?

2 In some cases XP with SP2 doesn't know what to do if there is more than 256mb of RAM. Seems odd to me, but can you try with just a stick of 256?

Beecher

nipplenuts wrote:

I have had a quick rummage on the net and found a couple of things.

1 XP can take 30 mins to detect devices. Are you leaving it long enough?

2 In some cases XP with SP2 doesn't know what to do if there is more than 256mb of RAM. Seems odd to me, but can you try with just a stick of 256?

Have left it overnight running, still hadnt detected devices

Unfortunately I only have 2 x 1 gig sticks of ram that will fit this board

joePC wrote:

Sounds like the dual core processor causing the issue.

Go into the BIOS and disable the 2nd core, and underclock the CPU down to about 1Ghz - XP will install now will be a little bit slower.

When installed reset the BIOS settings back to normal and all will be working.

Good luck, Cheers, Joe

Now thats something I hadnt considered, Ill give it a shot and report back

h8red

Just to say the PC I was working on was far from Dual core! I can't see why dual cores would cause a problem. And I don't think you'll have an option in the BIOS to disable one of the cores. I don't on my own machine (DFI Lanparty SLI-DR Expert w/ X2 4400+)

joePC

now, now, let the man try it out.... Worked for me a number of times.

h8red

Cool.

Kimbot

Try get a copy of windows without SP2 aswell and apply SP2 through the Automatic Updates!!

Capt'n Midnight

some BIOS's allow you to set the ram to 256MB

copy the files from the CD to the hard drive and run the install from there ?

you can use isobuster to check the disk surface too - it will give you a check sum google may tell you which cd it belongs to

don't forget that you can't use a PC branded XP cd on another brand


ALSO YOU NEED TO BE SURE YOU HAVE THE APPROPIATE LICENSES
YOU MAY NEED A SEPARATE LICENSE FOR EACH VERSION OF WINDOWS - EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN ONLY RUN ONE AT A TIME AND EVEN IF ONE OF THOSE VERSIONS HAS DOWNGRADE RIGHTS TO THE OTHER !

joePC

Well did you get it installed in the end?