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NicKnayme · Manager

Need Help With XP Fresh Install

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

Look here for step-by-step instructions.

-- Edited by Vindicated on Friday 18th of September 2009 04:55:42 PM

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

NicKnayme wrote:

If I load the CD drivers and type D:setup I get "can not be run in DOS-mode"

Alan

Try D:\setup with the XP Update CD in place
You gotta have the'\' in there!

NicKnayme · Manager

Same message "can't run in DOS mode"

Try D:\setup with the XP Update CD in place
You gotta have the'\' in there!

-- Edited by NicKnayme on Saturday 19th of September 2009 03:35:33 AM

NicKnayme · Manager

I did learn the BIOS sees the HDD but not DOS.
I found on another forum, from D:cd i386 then run Winnt and XP installer starts but say it can't find a swap file.
I will try reformatting it as a USB drive on another machine and see where that gets me.

Alan

barney · Administrator / Manager

Can you try these instructions?

DOS Install of XP

or this:

After the format type

D:

(assuming your CD-rom is D)

then type cd i386

once you're in that directory type winnt

NicKnayme · Manager

After I reformatted to fat32 and ran the install from DOS...it partially loads.
I need to try loading SmartDrive from a FD and see if it will completely load.
I think there is a newer BIOS also.

Alan

NicKnayme · Manager

I updated the BIOS...XP loads files for about 2 min. and then it freezes with the HDD light staying on.

I have NO more ideas.

Alan

barney · Administrator / Manager

I think either you need more RAM on that machine or the swap file isn't big enough. How much RAM is on that old geezer?

Minimum Requirements (ridiculously minimal):

* Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)
* At least 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM (128 MB is recommended)
* At least 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available space on the hard disk
* CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
* Keyboard and a Microsoft Mouse or some other compatible pointing device
* Video adapter and monitor with Super VGA (800 x 600)or higher resolution
* Sound card
* Speakers or headphones

-- Edited by barney on Saturday 19th of September 2009 10:30:16 PM

NicKnayme · Manager

P3,1Ghz,128Mb,20GbHDD

Alan

barney · Administrator / Manager

Hmmmm.. that is really funny. I am really fresh out of ideas unless the BIOS can be updated (flashed)..

NicKnayme · Manager

Did it yesterday...A11 to A14...same!

Alan

-- Edited by NicKnayme on Sunday 20th of September 2009 03:07:23 PM

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

Alan:
You've probably already been here but just in case...

NicKnayme · Manager

One suggestion that seemed promising was loading all D:\i386 to the C drive and running winnt from there.
It copied the some 5K files Ok but still freezes at the same point!

Alan (nearly hairless at this point)

barney · Administrator / Manager

Can you tell us at what point it freezes? I think that you may need to change some settings in your BIOS (like disable ACPI or something like that)......

-- Edited by barney on Sunday 20th of September 2009 03:41:11 PM

NicKnayme · Manager

Barn, here is where I'm at...I loaded Smartdrive from a Win98 disk an I got the DOS portion of XP loaded...but at the restart there is STILL no CD drive support and says error reading A drive!

Alan

-- Edited by NicKnayme on Monday 21st of September 2009 12:03:58 PM

barney · Administrator / Manager

So, what you are saying is that the computer does not read your drive A:... and that is a CD drive? Is it enabled in the BIOS (does it show as being seen)? If not, you'll need to enable it. If it is, maybe the Smart Drive partition is the conflict. Can you partition any other way (other than a floppy). Do you have a USB CD drive or a flash drive that will hold a program like Partition Magic? Gparted is a great CD for formatting.

Let me think about other solutions while I am out this afternoon, so I'll post something when I get back.

NicKnayme · Manager

When I load CD support from 98SE it is then drive D.
I start SmartDrive and go to drive C and load the DOS portion of the XP install.
At that point it asks to reboot and then reverts back to A instead of loading the rest of XP.
I have changed the old CMOS battery and the boot order is CD, FDD, HDD.

DOS portion will load Ok from either the install disk or the C drive.
But that is all that will load.

Alan

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

Alan:
At this point I'd be going back to 'square 1' and starting over with bios setup.
Take a look at these instructions.

barney · Administrator / Manager

I would also suggest that you set your BIOS so that nothing advanced is enabled. Just start with the basics. At this point, I would say that something in the BIOS is tripped when you go from DOS to GUI based installation. The result is a change in how the computer sees your drives and data.

NicKnayme · Manager

barney wrote:

I would also suggest that you set your BIOS so that nothing advanced is enabled. Just start with the basics. At this point, I would say that something in the BIOS is tripped when you go from DOS to GUI based installation. The result is a change in how the computer sees your drives and data.

This may be true...but there is no reason it shouldn't boot from CD to begin with!

Alan

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

Have you tried clearing the bios password to reset the bios to factory default settings?

NicKnayme · Manager

Okay, here is what worked...I made a disk bootable using nLite and the XP disk. It took-off like the proverbial bat!

Thanks for all the tips! (It took me all weekend to think of doing that!)

Alan

barney · Administrator / Manager

Glad to see that it worked, finally. The XP disk should have been bootable, so who knows??

NicKnayme · Manager

2 different disks were tried...so this system was picky. The XP disks work okay on other PCs!
Go figure!

Alan

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

Is there going to be any problem with Product Activation??

barney · Administrator / Manager

This thread gets the award for the longest TMF thread ever! aww

NicKnayme · Manager

Vindicated wrote:

Is there going to be any problem with Product Activation??

I used the word "work" meaning it booted in other PCs...so...there is no problem with activation.

Alan

NicKnayme · Manager

I need to add something that is rare...after the install there where no "!" in the device manager!

Alan

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

NicKnayme wrote:
...there is no problem with activation.

Have you received the XP SP3 CD you ordered from Microsoft yet and if so have you installed it on this new XP installation?
(I ordered my XP SP3 CD this morning for possible future use on a new installation.)

NicKnayme · Manager

Yes Beetle, I installed it on the fresh machine.
It actually hosed my SP2 installation (my PC) and I had to uninstall it.
It messed-up the GUI and other issues.

Alan

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

Yeah -- XP SP3 has caused problems for many users.
I have it running fine on both my main & bedroom computers but maybe I'm one of the lucky ones!!

NicKnayme · Manager

I never explained this was the residents computer where I work.
It was the one I bought locally though Craig's List for $20.
I added another 128Mgs and it is working nicely.

Alan

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

Sounds like you got a good deal.
It was looking sorta doubtful for awhile, huh?
("Nothing ventured, nothing gained.")

NicKnayme · Manager

The local guy I bought it from delivered it the same day. He wanted $30...and when he saw where it was going...he said 20!
I wasted a lot of time...but that tends to burn the memory into your brain (because it exists in so many places)! ; )

Alan