XP installation won't start

[pentium]

Well after a bit of a squabble regarding ram I'm finally ready to start installing stuff onto my system.
Unfortunately, I can't even get XP installed.

I insert my XP Pro SP2 disc, it checks my system config and I get the blue setup screen with WINDOWS SETUP in the corner and that's it. I wait and wait and nothing happens.
I thought the disc could be bad or something so I tried my older pre-SP1 XP pro disc and again, blue setup screen with WINDOWS SETUP in the corner and nothing else.
I then went and tried my XP Home disc and still no dice.
I then tried live booting ubuntu and that went well until my monitors decided to not like my monitors and just give me a blinking green/amber status light but it did at the least start a live boot session (I heard the classic ubuntu login tune so it was getting to a live session desktop).

As a last resort, I tried my Windows 2000 Pro disc and success! It gets into the installer no problem.
I'm totally confused now. What would be preventing the installer from starting? I was having issues with the ram earlier (sometimes it was passing memtest 86 +, sometimes it was not) but I thought I combed that out after I cleaned the contacts. The system is at least not hanging at the POST anymore.

[pentium]

Re: XP installation won't start

Well, the Windows 2000 installation went flawless so that is at least working.
Still, why no Windows XP?

[Newbie2]

Re: XP installation won't start

Can you do another Memtest86+ test if you haven't already?

The RAM might actually be bad beyond the dirty contacts that you've dealt with.

[Newbie2]

Re: XP installation won't start

Also, what power supply are you using?

L&C, Deer, Powmax, or other generic lightweight power supplies might cause odd issues regarding system reliability.

[lucky13]

Re: XP installation won't start

Pentium,

I trust you have already checked for bad caps near the memory controller?

Do run another Memtest like Newbie2 suggested. Run overnight or at least 10 passes.

I experienced something similiar before and it was flakey RAM. For some reason, XP install put more stress on the RAM.

[Wizard]

Re: XP installation won't start

try prime95 torture test.

Also, I ran into similar problem with dodgy optical drives. Replace it and is all well. Ditto on power supply and cooling.

Cheers, Wizard

[pentium]

Re: XP installation won't start

A: I'm running a Corsair VX550 PSU. There's more than enough juice being delivered.

b: there are little OST caps around the ram as well as a few larger green caps from which I can only make out "KZE" on them. the VRM seems to use UNC as well. Not too too bad but it sure isn't like my old K7N2. It had rubycons everywhere.

If bad comes to worse, I can RMA and return all three sticks and get replacement ones mailed to me.

I'll fire up memtest again and let it run for the night and get back to you.

I know the opticals are good. I use them in my last system and as stated, just used them to install Windows 2000.

Also, I really can't cool this system down much more. Outside the house it's like 40c, inside the case is 43c and the CPU is hanging at 61c. I'm doing whatever I can to get air into the case and onto the hardware that needs it the most.

[Wizard]

Re: XP installation won't start

Hmm.. That's hotter than hades. At least managed to keep things cool.

I had used memtest it does it's job but it is not very hard on memory. I use prime95 torture test mode that stresses cpu and memory at same time. This is where much of problems show up. I used prime95 on dimension 8300 to test if my recap job was sufficient and was not good (errors) because of flying wires remember that? Redid this correctly with quality caps that fits. Passed it.

[Newbie2]

Re: XP installation won't start

Try testing one stick of RAM at a time and see if your XP installation issue remains with each individual stick of RAM. It might help find the faulty stick (or sticks) of RAM.

[kikkoman]

Re: XP installation won't start

i've seen USB keyboards and/or the "USB compatibility" in the BIOS cause this.
alternatively you could boot into a WinPE environment (such as ERD commander) and start the setup from there.

[bgavin]

Re: XP installation won't start

There are some boards where Memtest fails and is not a memory problem. KG7 boards from ABit, 8K7A EpoX boards, etc, all based on the AMD-761 chipset.

That aside, any modern board should pass Memest86+ for 24 hours, error free. If not, you have BSOD 0x50 and other treats waiting in the dark to jump you.

XP has a super-set of drivers over Win2000, so if it installs on W2K, then XP should have the driver.

I assume you are not hung in something like SATA controllers, where you require an F6 diskette and driver. There is a huge caveat here, if you are using Intel MSM drivers. The published layout and required diskette layout are different. If you do not have the drivers installed in BOTH Root and \$OEM$\TEXTMODE, the installation will fail.

If you suspect hardware, boot a BART-PE cdrom or other self-contained OS on a cd. This will tell you if XP or the hardware is the cause. You can disable devices in CMOS before installing XP, to reduce its driver interaction.

[Newbie2]

Re: XP installation won't start

If you're desperate to get Windows XP on your computer, I'd suggest trying to upgrade Windows 2000 to XP Pro in Windows using the upgrade install option if you can do that.

[pentium]

Re: XP installation won't start

I have a pretty good feeling that it is the ram that is causing me all my grief. Not the SATA controller and probably not the BIOS settings.

[pentium]

Re: XP installation won't start

Stupid time limit...
Yep. I threw in a spare Crucial 512mb stick and the XP installation started right up no problem. The problem is indeed the result of bad ram.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: XP installation won't start

Your monitor is a Trinitron, isn't it?

[pentium]

Re: XP installation won't start

Sure is.
20" IBM P201 with a Trinitron tube.

[kc8adu]

Re: XP installation won't start

looks like 2 bad sticks.
try the middle one by itself.
when you get time test one at a time.

[pentium]

Re: XP installation won't start

Even if I only have one good stick, all three sticks have to be returned in the RMA process so I'm not going to bother with finding out which sticks are bad and which one is good.

[Newbie2]

Re: XP installation won't start

Hopefully your RMA process is quick and the replacements are not bad too.

[bgavin]

Re: XP installation won't start

Please upgrade your Memtest

Your test version is 1.65 and v2.11 is current.
There are newer releases for a good reason.