Stuck with XP installation

[vyral_143]

Hi,
I am trying to install Windows XP SP3 Home Edition on my Dell Mini 12 from a disc which came with it using a external DVD-Drive. In BIOS Boot Priority is 1st for DVD-Drive and 2nd for HDD. It does booth from CD and lets me select partition in which i want to install XP and later on it copies all required files.

After which XP setup asks for a restart. However on restarting setup does not continue further. Instead just a underscore is keep on blinking and nothing else on screen.

How to proceed further ?

 

[Tech&ME]

Ok

Follow this:

Step 1: Goto BIOS and change the boot priority to DVD.

Step 2: Boot from DVD and start the installation after you partition the HDD.

Step 3: Let setup do its job, [ copy files, etc ]

Step 4: Let the setup REBOOT itself.

Step 5: Press F2 this time when the computer / laptop is about to restart again. [ on the DELL logo screen ]

Step 6 : Go to BIOS and change the boot priority to HDD.

Step 7: Reboot.

Step 8: Let it reboot and the setup should continue. [ don't remove the external DVD drive and DVD media, however ]

Step 9: Once the setup completes, it will again reboot and start windows for the first time.

Step 10 : Create your user account, etc and enjoy.

 

[vyral_143]

I will try this method tonight. Thanks.

Till Step 7 it works perfectly but its stuck later. Just a underscore blinking on the left hand side corner.

 

[Minion]

May be you disc has gone bad.try to install from different disc.

 

[desiJATT]

Ok

Follow this:

Step 1: Goto BIOS and change the boot priority to DVD.

Step 2: Boot from DVD and start the installation after you partition the HDD.

Step 3: Let setup do its job, [ copy files, etc ]

Step 4: Let the setup REBOOT itself.

Step 5: Press F2 this time when the computer / laptop is about to restart again. [ on the DELL logo screen ]

Step 6 : Go to BIOS and change the boot priority to HDD.

Step 7: Reboot.

Step 8: Let it reboot and the setup should continue. [ don't remove the external DVD drive and DVD media, however ]

Step 9: Once the setup completes, it will again reboot and start windows for the first time.

Step 10 : Create your user account, etc and enjoy.

This should definitely work. Newer PCs first ask for a keypress before booting from DVD, else they boot straight into HDD. Older PCs have this problem. After completing setup from the disk, it reboots and again starts booting from CD instead of the HDD. So changing the Boot device priority on the next restart is the solution.

 

[vyral_143]

Yeah I know that is a normal flow . But this is following some alternate flow .

Well I am getting fear of HDD failure.

 

[Tech&ME]

^^

Well , It could be.

I think the MBR of the HDD has something to do with this. The BIOS is not able to pass the boot sequence to the HDD, therefore it is blinking (searching) for the boot device.

I don't understand why the windows installer is not able to update the MBR.

May be you need to try it with a different windows 7 DVD.

 

[Sujeet]

This should definitely work. Newer PCs first ask for a keypress before booting from DVD, else they boot straight into HDD. Older PCs have this problem. After completing setup from the disk, it reboots and again starts booting from CD instead of the HDD. So changing the Boot device priority on the next restart is the solution.

The keypress based confirmations displayed during boot time of any external/internal media is based on OS being booted and not determined by the hardware/bios.

You are basically referring to window vista/7/8 Boot procedure which dont ask for confirmation whereas XP does.(XP displays message to press any key to boot..).
The problem is not associated with Newer or older PCs anyway.

 

[vyral_143]

One more thing I noticed was drive letter. It should not matter much but my 80GB HDD in it has two partitions one of ~25GB and other of ~50GB. 25GB was C Drive and 50GB was D Drive. But now however it shows other way round.

If nothing works I am thinking to install Ubuntu, take all data from 50GB partition and format whole HDD and try once again.

But before all this using another XP disc is also what I am considering.

 

[Prime_Coder]

Be careful before selecting the options to format. Otherwise you will end up losing the data on one of your partitions. I would suggest you to take backup from both partitions before installation.

 

[balakrish]

All you have to do is,when you restart you have to select your HDD again from the BIOS.
This will surely solve the problem.
Hope this helps.

 

[Zangetsu]

my frnd had same problem of XP installation in his new lenovo laptop.

considering the XP CD u have is perfect & not damaged....
go to BIOS & select the native HDD option (not Sata..)..the exact location of it in BIOS I forgot but he did the same thing in his lenovo laptop & succeeded installation of XP

 

[theredcommando]

Just remove the DVD while the reboot is going on When XP asks for CD, insert it again. Alternatively, wait for some time between the restarts, ie power off your computer for two minutes or so. When you restart windows installation would proceed as normal.

HDD does not seem to have any problem, mostly it would be the motherboard. Once you get past this it would work properly.