Very BASIC ... Starting up a new XP machine

[Mike Norris]

I've forgotten how to do it !!!!!!!!

Just built a new PC ...hardware seems fine.

BUT ... can't get an operating system in ..

I've got XP home edition cd rom which I place in the drive

Things start working ... bios configures OK ... I configure to startup from
CD

CD starts up and then system freezes with a blue window at the top left it
says ...

Windows setup ...

then nothing happens.

I've tried using a MSDOS startup disc from which I can Fdisk the new drive
but nothing else ... do I need to format the drive? ... if so how ?

Where do I go from here?

Any help appreciated

CheeRS

--
.. Just a Physicist playing with the Universe ..
... in the English Lake District ...
.... using the elegant solution ....
... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...
/\/\ /\ /
.. / \ ike / \/orris ..

[Jim Macklin]

Set the BIOS to boot from the CD, the CD has all the tools
needed to partition, format the hard drive and then install
the OS.


"Mike Norris" > wrote in
message ...
| I've forgotten how to do it !!!!!!!!
|
| Just built a new PC ...hardware seems fine.
|
| BUT ... can't get an operating system in ..
|
| I've got XP home edition cd rom which I place in the drive
|
| Things start working ... bios configures OK ... I
configure to startup from
| CD
|
| CD starts up and then system freezes with a blue window at
the top left it
| says ...
|
| Windows setup ...
|
| then nothing happens.
|
| I've tried using a MSDOS startup disc from which I can
Fdisk the new drive
| but nothing else ... do I need to format the drive? ...
if so how ?
|
| Where do I go from here?
|
| Any help appreciated
|
| CheeRS
|
| --
| .. Just a Physicist playing with the Universe ..
| ... in the English Lake District ...
| .... using the elegant solution ....
| ... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...
| /\/\ /\ /
| .. / \ ike / \/orris ..

[Bob S.]

Go here and follow the instructions........

http://www.theeldergeek.com/xp_home_install_-_graphic.htm

Bob S.

[R. C. White]

Hi, Mike.

How "vanilla" is your hardware? Especially your hard drives? I recently
added Windows Server 2003 to my standalone WinXP Pro setup and hit a similar
roadblock. My problem was in juggling my 3 HDs, with one on SCSI and the
other two on my built-in RAID controller. The BIOS and the CD-ROM had
trouble agreeing which drive was HDD-0. :>( I finally had to strip down to
a more basic configuration to install the new Windows, then added back the
other drives after installation, using Disk Management. Also, when you get
that far, remember to set the BIOS back to boot from the HD before rebooting
into Windows for the GUI phase of Setup.

It's very disconcerting staring at a hung or blank screen when you know
you've done this same job at least a dozen times before, isn't it? Of
course, there are several places in Setup where the screen just goes blue or
black for a long time - several minutes - and then continues normally. I
aborted a couple of times when I got to this point and was tempted several
other times to abort, but I waited it out and eventually it continued and
completed Setup.

But you should not need that DOS/Win9x floppy and FDISK. I've often
suggested - slightly tongue-in-cheek - that users throw away that floppy.
Use the WinXP CD-ROM and let Setup partition and format at least the system
partition and, if different, the WinXP boot volume. Then use Disk
Management from inside WinXP to do create and format any other partitions.

One other possibility: the 32 GB limit that Microsoft imposed on formatting
a partition FAT32. Are you using FAT32? On a large partition? I've not
seen it but some users have reported that this sometimes fails with no error
message. You can either switch to NTFS (recommended) or make smaller
partitions or <blush> find that MS-DOS boot floppy and use Format.exe, after
which WinXP will happily use all of the large FAT32 volume.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP

"Mike Norris" > wrote in message
...
> I've forgotten how to do it !!!!!!!!
>
> Just built a new PC ...hardware seems fine.
>
> BUT ... can't get an operating system in ..
>
> I've got XP home edition cd rom which I place in the drive
>
> Things start working ... bios configures OK ... I configure to startup
from
> CD
>
> CD starts up and then system freezes with a blue window at the top left it
> says ...
>
> Windows setup ...
>
> then nothing happens.
>
> I've tried using a MSDOS startup disc from which I can Fdisk the new drive
> but nothing else ... do I need to format the drive? ... if so how ?
>
> Where do I go from here?
>
> Any help appreciated
>
> CheeRS
>
> --
> .. Just a Physicist playing with the Universe ..
> ... in the English Lake District ...
> .... using the elegant solution ....
> ... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...
> /\/\ /\ /
> .. / \ ike / \/orris ..

[Mike Norris]

Is the problem that I only have the XP Home upgrade disc?



>In article >,
> Jim Macklin > wrote:
> Set the BIOS to boot from the CD, the CD has all the tools
> needed to partition, format the hard drive and then install
> the OS.

CheeRS

--
..Anti-Spam Domain/Address for NewsGroup use ..
Mike Norris resides in the English Lake District
... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...

[Mike Norris]

In article >,
R. C. White > wrote:
> Hi, Mike.

> How "vanilla" is your hardware? Especially your hard drives? I recently
> added Windows Server 2003 to my standalone WinXP Pro setup and hit a similar
> roadblock.

unflavoured straight out of the box 60Gb Maxtor
with an Artec CDRW

pretty standard stuff

snip

> It's very disconcerting staring at a hung or blank screen when you know
> you've done this same job at least a dozen times before, isn't it? Of
> course, there are several places in Setup where the screen just goes blue >or
> black for a long time - several minutes - and then continues normally. I
> aborted a couple of times when I got to this point and was tempted several
> other times to abort, but I waited it out and eventually it continued and
> completed Setup.

half an hour with NO action at all

> But you should not need that DOS/Win9x floppy and FDISK. I've often
> suggested - slightly tongue-in-cheek - that users throw away that floppy.

I've downloaded the 6 XP floppies ... the system does NOT recognise the boot
one at all ... simply rejects it as not a valid disc

> Use the WinXP CD-ROM and let Setup partition and format at least the >system
> partition and, if different, the WinXP boot volume. Then use Disk
> Management from inside WinXP to do create and format any other partitions.

I can't get that far!

> One other possibility: the 32 GB limit that Microsoft imposed on >formatting
> a partition FAT32. Are you using FAT32? On a large partition? I've not
> seen it but some users have reported that this sometimes fails with no >error
It's FAT32 as that's all Fdisk would do from a floppy I made from my current
XP machine

> message. You can either switch to NTFS (recommended) or make smaller
> partitions or <blush> find that MS-DOS boot floppy and use Format.exe, >after
> which WinXP will happily use all of the large FAT32 volume.

I now don't know what to try next.

--
..Anti-Spam Domain/Address for NewsGroup use ..
Mike Norris resides in the English Lake District
... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...

[Mike Norris]

I've now resolved the floppy disc problem it was a bad disc ... so I now
have a full 6 disc boot on floppies ...

unfortunately ... it does exactly the same thing as the CD


freezes at the blue windows setup page ....


is this a hardware conflict ?


I have noted that in the BIOS several IRQ's are shared ...

e.g. a USB port and the AGP card share IRQ 11

getting desperate!

--
..Anti-Spam Domain/Address for NewsGroup use ..
Mike Norris resides in the English Lake District
... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...

[Graham]

"Mike Norris" > wrote in message
...
> I've now resolved the floppy disc problem it was a bad disc ... so I now
> have a full 6 disc boot on floppies ...
>
> unfortunately ... it does exactly the same thing as the CD
>
>
> freezes at the blue windows setup page ....
>
>
> is this a hardware conflict ?
>
>
> I have noted that in the BIOS several IRQ's are shared ...
>
> e.g. a USB port and the AGP card share IRQ 11
>
> getting desperate!
>
> --
> .Anti-Spam Domain/Address for NewsGroup use ..
> Mike Norris resides in the English Lake District
> ... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...
Do as was suggested with getting back to basics. Remove all none essential
PCI cards, which is everyone except the Video if it is a pci version.
Hopefully then you will have no conflicts, as there is none to be had. Split
your drive in half if going with Fat. In bios go with no for the plug and
play OS. Plus select "load setup defaults". What motherboard are you using?
Maybe someone may know of a conflict with the particular board. I wish you
good luck. My first PC was also a head scratcher when trying to figure out
which settings to use.

[David]

If you have an upgrade CD, then you have to upgrade from an earlier
existing OS. That's my understanding of the MS upgrade policy.

David


On Thu, 29 May 2003 15:18:55 +0100, Mike Norris
> wrote:

>I've forgotten how to do it !!!!!!!!
>
>Just built a new PC ...hardware seems fine.
>
>BUT ... can't get an operating system in ..
>
>I've got XP home edition cd rom which I place in the drive
>
>Things start working ... bios configures OK ... I configure to startup from
>CD
>
>CD starts up and then system freezes with a blue window at the top left it
>says ...
>
>Windows setup ...
>
>then nothing happens.
>
>I've tried using a MSDOS startup disc from which I can Fdisk the new drive
>but nothing else ... do I need to format the drive? ... if so how ?
>
>Where do I go from here?
>
>Any help appreciated
>
>CheeRS

[Graham]

"David" > wrote in message
...
> If you have an upgrade CD, then you have to upgrade from an earlier
> existing OS. That's my understanding of the MS upgrade policy.
>
> David
>
>
> On Thu, 29 May 2003 15:18:55 +0100, Mike Norris
> > wrote:
>
> >I've forgotten how to do it !!!!!!!!
> >
> >Just built a new PC ...hardware seems fine.
> >
> >BUT ... can't get an operating system in ..
> >
> >I've got XP home edition cd rom which I place in the drive
> >
> >Things start working ... bios configures OK ... I configure to startup
from
> >CD
> >
> >CD starts up and then system freezes with a blue window at the top left
it
> >says ...
> >
> >Windows setup ...
> >
> >then nothing happens.
> >
> >I've tried using a MSDOS startup disc from which I can Fdisk the new
drive
> >but nothing else ... do I need to format the drive? ... if so how ?
> >
> >Where do I go from here?
> >
> >Any help appreciated
> >
> >CheeRS
>

With an upgrade disc the original operating system need not be installed to
qualify for the upgrade install. You must have the disk available to place
in your Rom drive when asked. That is how the OS knows you qualify for the
upgrade installation.

[Ken Blake]

In , David wrote:

> If you have an upgrade CD, then you have to upgrade from an
earlier
> existing OS. That's my understanding of the MS upgrade policy.


If by that you mean that you have to upgrade over the top of an
existing operating system, that's *not* correct. You can do a
clean installation with an upgrade CD. The requirement is to
*own* a previous qualifying operating system, not to have it
installed. When setup doesn't find a previous qualifying
operating system installed, it will prompt you to insert its CD
as proof of ownership. Just follow the prompts and all proceeds
normally.

This is true not only for Windows XP, but is the way it's been
for all Windows versions that I can remember.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup



> On Thu, 29 May 2003 15:18:55 +0100, Mike Norris
> > wrote:
>
>> I've forgotten how to do it !!!!!!!!
>>
>> Just built a new PC ...hardware seems fine.
>>
>> BUT ... can't get an operating system in ..
>>
>> I've got XP home edition cd rom which I place in the drive
>>
>> Things start working ... bios configures OK ... I configure to
>> startup from CD
>>
>> CD starts up and then system freezes with a blue window at the
top
>> left it says ...
>>
>> Windows setup ...
>>
>> then nothing happens.
>>
>> I've tried using a MSDOS startup disc from which I can Fdisk
the new
>> drive but nothing else ... do I need to format the drive? ...
if so
>> how ?
>>
>> Where do I go from here?
>>
>> Any help appreciated
>>
>> CheeRS

[Mike Norris]

In article >,

> Do as was suggested with getting back to basics. Remove all none essential
> PCI cards, which is everyone except the Video if it is a pci version.


problem solved ... the conflict was a 6 in 1 card reader/USB port connected
to the on board contacts ( there are also 4 other USB's v2 on the board)

Iwas trying to boot up with them all connected ...

by removing the 2 board contacts it booted up correctly.

then with that doneand the operating system installed I reconnected them and
they also wotk fine.

Thanks to all for the pointers.

I'll have forgotten all this stuff by the next time I need to do it!

CheeRS

--
..Anti-Spam Domain/Address for NewsGroup use ..
Mike Norris resides in the English Lake District
... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...

[Jim Macklin]

Thanks for the feedback.


"Mike Norris" > wrote in message
...
| In article >,
|
| > Do as was suggested with getting back to basics. Remove
all none essential
| > PCI cards, which is everyone except the Video if it is a
pci version.
|
|
| problem solved ... the conflict was a 6 in 1 card
reader/USB port connected
| to the on board contacts ( there are also 4 other USB's v2
on the board)
|
| Iwas trying to boot up with them all connected ...
|
| by removing the 2 board contacts it booted up correctly.
|
| then with that doneand the operating system installed I
reconnected them and
| they also wotk fine.
|
| Thanks to all for the pointers.
|
| I'll have forgotten all this stuff by the next time I need
to do it!
|
| CheeRS
|
| --
| .Anti-Spam Domain/Address for NewsGroup use ..
| Mike Norris resides in the English Lake District
| ... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...

[Graham]

"Mike Norris" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
>
> > Do as was suggested with getting back to basics. Remove all none
essential
> > PCI cards, which is everyone except the Video if it is a pci version.
>
>
> problem solved ... the conflict was a 6 in 1 card reader/USB port
connected
> to the on board contacts ( there are also 4 other USB's v2 on the board)
>
> Iwas trying to boot up with them all connected ...
>
> by removing the 2 board contacts it booted up correctly.
>
> then with that doneand the operating system installed I reconnected them
and
> they also wotk fine.
>
> Thanks to all for the pointers.
>
> I'll have forgotten all this stuff by the next time I need to do it!
>
> CheeRS
>
> --
> .Anti-Spam Domain/Address for NewsGroup use ..
> Mike Norris resides in the English Lake District
> ... Acorn StrongArm 233MHz RiscPC ...

Very happy to hear you are up and running. It never fails to amaze what
little things cause huge problems.