• Install Failure

    Home » Forums » AskWoody support » Windows » Windows Vista, XP and earlier » Questions: Vista, XP back to 3.1 » Install Failure

    Author
    Topic
    Jonesy47
    AskWoody Plus
    July 20, 2010 at 5:10 am #470408

    Friend’s Dell desktop, running XP Home, stopped working. Tried a Repair Install, but the Windows installation was so corrupted that Setup wouldn’t see it. So I put in a new hard drive and started a full Install. Everything goes along until the point where Setup reboots the PC, and then normally the GUI part of the setup would start. Instead, the entire setup starts over again 🙁 After this happened twice, I even reformatted the hard drive and tried again, but the same thing happened. Any idea what might be wrong?

    Reply | Quote
    Viewing 3 reply threads
    Author
    Replies
    • joep517
      AskWoody MVP
      July 20, 2010 at 8:10 am #1234859

      Do you have the current drivers required for the PC & peripherals?

      Joe

      --Joe

      Reply | Quote
      • Jonesy47
        AskWoody Plus
        July 20, 2010 at 8:20 am #1234860

        Do you have the current drivers required for the PC & peripherals?

        Joe

        If you mean things from the Dell website, not yet. My normal procedure is to do a “plain” XP install, then hit the mfr. website for missing drivers.

        Reply | Quote
    • joep517
      AskWoody MVP
      July 20, 2010 at 8:29 am #1234863

      If you are using a generic XP install CD you may need a specific Dell driver for the PC to work correctly.

      Joe

      --Joe

      Reply | Quote
      • Jonesy47
        AskWoody Plus
        July 20, 2010 at 1:12 pm #1234893

        If you are using a generic XP install CD you may need a specific Dell driver for the PC to work correctly.

        Joe

        Turned out I needed to set the BIOS to Default Settings, then the XP install went smoothly. Luckily all the hardware got identified and installed correctly by the XP Setup, as XP is NOT a supported OS by Dell on this particular model.

        Reply | Quote
    • joep517
      AskWoody MVP
      July 20, 2010 at 1:32 pm #1234897

      Glad you got it figured out. Thanks for posting back.

      Joe

      --Joe

      Reply | Quote
    • WSDrWho
      AskWoody Lounger
      July 21, 2010 at 11:21 am #1235027

      The one time I saw this problem was after another tech had already tried to install Windows XP several times.
      Every time, on the first automatic reboot, the entire Install would start over again.

      I checked out the system and found one stick of ram with a big “S” on the chips. This is commonly known as “Superman Ram”.
      It’s cheap JUNK and widely known to fail when the system loads it down. Most Memtest programs do not load the ram but only check one cell at a time.

      Anyway, once I removed that bad stick of ram, Windows XP loaded properly.

      So in short, one bad ram stick can cause Windows XP to fail to install, exactly as outlined in your complaint.

      Maybe knowing that will help someone else.

      The Doctor

      Reply | Quote
    Viewing 3 reply threads
    Reply To: Install Failure

    You can use BBCodes to format your content.
    Your account can't use all available BBCodes, they will be stripped before saving.

    Your information:




DON'T MISS OUT!
Subscribe to the Free Newsletter
We promise not to spam you. Unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

View the Forum

  • Recent Replies
  • My Replies
  • My Active Topics
  • New Posts in the Last day
  • Private Messages
  • Knowledge Base
  • How to use the Forums
  • All Forums

    • Recent Topics

    My Profile

    June 2025
    S M T W T F S
    1234567
    891011121314
    15161718192021
    22232425262728
    2930  

    Remembering Woody

     

    Want to Advertise in the free newsletter? How about a gift subscription in honor of a birthday? Send an email to sb@askwoody.com to ask how.

    Mastodon profile for DefConPatch
    Mastodon profile for AskWoody

     

    Home • About • FAQ • Posts & Privacy • Forums • My Account
    Register • Free Newsletter • Plus Membership • Gift Certificates • MS-DEFCON Alerts

    Copyright ©2004-2025 by AskWoody Tech LLC. All Rights Reserved.