New Windows Install really stalling me

Discussion in 'Software' started by Jubei_Jedi, Aug 16, 2008.

  1. Jubei_Jedi

    Jubei_Jedi Bit Poster

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    Hi again,

    had a problem in the last few days that my HDD failed on me so i pulled an old 20gb HDD just to get me up and running again and have started up with a new copy of xp pro and changed the first boot device to the cd which is fine, it gets to the windows startup, configures hardware and then i get to the format stage and it shows the partitions.
    I run the setup where it loads the first part of windows and then does a restart.This is where my problem starts. It just sits there saying "press any key to boot from cd" which of course i do but it does not move and there is no movement from the cd, so i reboot and press the key when it says and it just repeats the same part of the initial install where it goes to the partition stage then reboots where it just hangs again..

    am i doing something incredibly wrong or what?
    I thought that after it does the first part and then reboots it just starts off the cd again automatically and i shouldn't have to press any key to boot off the cd, even doing that does nothing anyway...

    Is there anything i can change on the cd for it to just read automatically?

    I have had no pc now for 2 weeks and this is doing my head in, any thoughts would be much appreciated,

    Cheers :)

    Jubei.
     
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  2. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    On most BIOSes if you *don't* press the key to boot from the CD then it will boot from the hard drive, which is what the installation is expecting.

    Make sure that in the BIOS the HDD is the second boot device.

    Harry.
     
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  3. Johnd76

    Johnd76 Megabyte Poster

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    I would do what H says
     
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  4. Jubei_Jedi

    Jubei_Jedi Bit Poster

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    Ok thanks for the advice guys, have tried absolutely everything to get this going but after the initial laoding of the setup files and the reboot it just will not go into the rest of the setup.
    Do you think it would be any possibility of the HDD being very old and not loading for that reason, i mean it did have a version of windows 98 on it before i did the new install?

    Jubei.
     
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  5. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    You did use the setup part of the install to remove all old partitions and create new ones? Under some conditions the installer can get a bit lost if it is trying to install to an odd place.

    Harry.
     
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  6. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Are you sure this hard drive is configured properly ie as a *master*?
     
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  7. Jubei_Jedi

    Jubei_Jedi Bit Poster

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    yep removed the old partition and created a new one and started the install on that, also have triple checked to see that it is primary master but still to no avail.
    Just keeps hanging at the reboot and now i am not sure which part needs replacing.
    Is it the cd player, the HDD or worse still the motherboard?
     
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  8. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    I'd be inclined to format it as a DOS bootable partition just to prove that the drive will boot. If it doesn't then you have a setting wrong somewhere.

    Harry.
     
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  9. Qs

    Qs Semi-Honorary Member Gold Member

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    Your old HDD 'died' on you? Best way to check it...

    Boot to your XP CD.

    Select the 'R' repair console option.

    Choose the partition. (Enter the admin password if you set one, else just press enter)

    When at the prompt....

    Type "chkdsk /p /r"

    Let it complete (it can take a while)

    Reboot.

    Hope this helps. :)

    Qs
     
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  10. Jubei_Jedi

    Jubei_Jedi Bit Poster

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    Ok I am not too sure how to do this so if you could explain that would be great.

    And when i do boot up with the XP disc it does not give me the option to go to repair console , it just inspects hardware then goes to the windows setup where it shows the partition. I have done a format on the drive , created a partition but its at the reboot when it will not boot off the HDD or even if it is meant to go back to the cd it just goes back to the inspection then windows setup, round and round and round...:cry:
     
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  11. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    1) Clear all the partitions out with the XP install disk.
    2) Boot with a Win98SE boot disk.
    3) Use FDISK to create a partition.
    4) Use FORMAT C: /Q /S to format the drive and make it bootable.
    5) Remove floppy and reboot. It should drop to the C: prompt.

    The Repair option appears on the bottom line before you get to the install stage. If you don't see that then there is something very odd with your XP CD.

    Harry.
     
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  12. Qs

    Qs Semi-Honorary Member Gold Member

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    This is due to the hard-drive having a setup which is semi complete. Annoyingly the CD boot method identifies this and tries to continue installing it from where it left off.

    Best bet is to get a boot-disk from http://www.bootdisk.com/
    and boot to that, then reformat the drive, then boot from your XP CD and use my method.

    Failing that, if you have another rig, set the HDD as slave or cable select and reformat it inside windows. Once done, remove drive, set it to master and boot from the XP CD.

    NB - You can obtain a bootdisk from the URL above and do a DOS format as suggested by Harry if you wish.

    Come back to us if you need more help matey. :)

    Qs
     
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  13. Jubei_Jedi

    Jubei_Jedi Bit Poster

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    *sigh* ok thank you very much for all of the help, I will continue on battling with this and hopefully get it going.
     
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  14. Qs

    Qs Semi-Honorary Member Gold Member

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    No problem. Just bear in mind - HDDs very rarely just 'stop' working. It's probably how it's been set up or its become corrupted.

    I've worked with a lot of drives and 99% have been recoverable when they've gone weird. :p
     
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  15. Jubei_Jedi

    Jubei_Jedi Bit Poster

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    Just to give an update on what happened, i did the whole install again and was reading through the AIO book for some more info and found that the first thing that should appear before the partitioning section where it asks to either..
    a. Press enter to start the installation of windows xp
    b. Press here R for the recovery console
    c. Press f3 to exit the setup

    This does not appear at all and goes directly to the partition page, i then remembered seeing this many years ago and was wondering what you were talking about at first when telling me this.
    Anyway, I went through everything again, formatted , let the initial files install, it reboots and... Nothing!
    So it gets late and i have had enough of this again but i leave it on overnight where it was just hanging , and hey presto i wake up this morning and there it is sitting at the windows startup!
    It must have taken a couple of hours for it to finally get to the page, any possible good reasoning for this?
    Surely it must be the age of the HDD that i am using or possibly a memory problem?
     
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  16. TimoftheC

    TimoftheC Kilobyte Poster

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    Hmmm, that don't sound too good to me. Have you tried the HDD's manufacturer's web site? They are likely to have a utility that you load on to a floppy to test the HDD to see if it generates any errors. The software will often include a utility to write zeros to every sector of the HDD - basically destroying everything on the drive. A good way to get rid of some damaged formatting.
     
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  17. Qs

    Qs Semi-Honorary Member Gold Member

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    I've had it take a good while before and the subsequent OS has been as good as new. I wouldn't worry too much about it in all honesty.

    Patience is a wonderful thing.

    As I said in a previous post... if the installation is part-way through it will try to resume itself and therefore you will not see any of the usual options (e.g. "press r for recovery console" etc etc).

    Glad you have it sorted :)
     
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  18. TimoftheC

    TimoftheC Kilobyte Poster

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    Erm, hate to contradict ya Qs and this is probably me just being a bit neurotic but I would still give the drive a check using the manufacturer's software. If I had a drive that took that long to install windows I would be concerned that it was a sign that the drive was failing - better to run a few tests now to reassure yourself than spend the time getting everything loaded only to have it fail :blink

    But then again, I've always had a suspicious nature.................................. you looking at me?
    :p
     
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  19. Qs

    Qs Semi-Honorary Member Gold Member

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    Jubei_Jedi... if you're worried about the state of the hard-drive then do what I suggested in a previous post:-

    Self-quotation... it's a wonderful thing. :p
     
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  20. Qs

    Qs Semi-Honorary Member Gold Member

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    Of course :p I got distracted (I'm at work) and so my reply was delayed.

    Jedi - Try what I have suggested and let us know the results. It should be fine though. Oh... and remember to back-up your important files - just in case things do go wrong ;)
     
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