Need help installing XP

[nippinout]

I'm doing a clean install of XP on my roomy's laptop.

The stupid thing will not work! While it copies files from the CD to the hard drive, it will hang on different files. If I go to DOS and [copy d:\i386\*.* c:\xp\*.*] it will start to copy files but it will hang on different files.

I've fdisk and format a few times now and I can't find what is wrong.

I've gotten the installation to get to the point where XP installation begins, but then I get a critical error.

This computer is getting thrown out into the street if I can't fix it.

[beam]

dont throw it out...send it to me

did you ever think that it could be the CD?????

look at the cd and see if it has smudges or scratches

[MantisMag]

is it looking for controls.man or something like that? that's a fairly common problem when copying files from the xp cd.

[MarkM]

Well I just had a pc fall over with a critical error when installing XP and the reason was that the pc is so damned old the bios wouldn't support the ACPI...or something like that, result is although I "can" flash the bios I ain't a fan of doing that to really old machines so a new MB is on the way. So flashing the bios could be something to look at if you are still having difficulties.

[cphilip]

The last time I reformated the hard drive on one and installed XP from scratch I had to use a DOS utility disc to get it booted and then format the drive first. Then XP installed no problem. I found no utility in the XP software to set up the HD. This was XP home edition.

[MantisMag]

i have xp pro. i don't know why it would be different (it just might be though knowing MS). when installing it gives you several options. one of them somewhere is to reformat. i've reformatted several times for various reasons. i've had two windows installations (only one functional but all the files from the old one are still there). i've had it install over the old windows installation. and i've had it reformat.

[devildog]

is it a copy of windows xp, or an original cd? some copies dont burn right with xp, anyway, try to use another cd, it sounds like this one is bad. if that still dont work, install windows 98, then put in the xp cd and upgrade windows instead of a clean install, not as good, but its an alternative option (instead of throwing out the pc)

[cphilip]

Originally posted by MantisMag
i have xp pro. i don't know why it would be different (it just might be though knowing MS). when installing it gives you several options. one of them somewhere is to reformat. i've reformatted several times for various reasons. i've had two windows installations (only one functional but all the files from the old one are still there). i've had it install over the old windows installation. and i've had it reformat.

I dunno either. It was a Manufacturers restore copy though. That could be it. Came with the computer and I suspect they didn't want you to do a complete Reformat of C drive. Just a reinstall which from my old DOS days I do not consider clean. I guess I am paranoid. But Doing a DOS boot up gets you around that.

[MantisMag]

oh yeah. system restore disks are something else altogether! heh. they definitely don't want you reformatting because that would allow you to install something else on there (like linux).

just out of curiosity i heard a few companies are putting licensing agreements on the cds. opening the cds implies agreement to the terms. some other companies pop up a message the first time you start your computer that has you press a key to agree to the license before it'll start. the license agreement is not displayed. the license terms are in a document that's on your computer. does your computer have anything crazy like this?

[cphilip]

Well I do know that XP requires a registration. Either online or on the Phone. If you do not it will refuse to boot up after a certain number of free times. 5 I think. It then will also disallow its install on another computer without a registration of mutilple copies. You can do this only for one user on two computers I think. Sometimes you have to call and get a number to plug in if you lose it and want to do this.

I also ran into this with Microsoft office for Mac. Another person in the office mistakenly used my CD for reloading a new hard drive instead of hers. It immediately cut me off and said that the Copy I was using was registered to her. I had to have her unload it and reload it on my machine and re-register it. She then used her copy correctly to install. We normally buy a 5 user copy but in this case had individual copies of Office for some reason. But Microsoft stuff is now very difficult to multiple install.

[MarkM]

Originally posted by cphilip
Well I do know that XP requires a registration.

XP Pro doesn't that is one of the main benifits plus there are more tools for you to fiddle with..Home is meant basically to be installed and left alone, the reasoning is that Home is fine for people who want the MS expirience but don't want to change things..this isn't to say you can't change things within Home but it is limited.
Longhorn or what ever they are calling it now WILL change all this and online registration will have to be done...but that's at least a couple of years away for the mainstream.

[OfficerGoat]

Neither requiere registration, but both require activation. The only time you don't need activation is if you have a site licenced copy of the product. There are only two reasons for most folks to use pro... 1) If you have a specific peice of software that requires it or 2) Your PC is a member of a domain. Otherwise you are actualy better off with Home edition as its a lighter peice of software.

Now then... on to the beans. DON'T COPY THE DISK TO THE DRIVE!! There is absolutly no reason whatsoever to to do this, this isnt windows 98, its not going to ask you for the CD anytime after install. Fdisk the drive but do not format. Run the CD and formatt NTFS when prompted. This is a FAR more stable file system than FAT.

If you are still getting errors during install make sure that the CD is clean, if you are still getting errors make sure the CD-Rom is ok as well.

[mcveighr]

Didja switch the wire going from the cd rom to the mother board with the one from the harddrive to the motherboard?

[OfficerGoat]

Originally posted by mcveighr
Didja switch the wire going from the cd rom to the mother board with the one from the harddrive to the motherboard?

Sorta dificult on a laptop

I would say if it is the cd drive get ahold of a usb cd drive untill a suitable replacement can be found for the other one.