Installing Xp problems

Benzino

Hey all,

I decided that I would replace Vista on my current laptop (it came with it) with xp. However I have encountered a problem.

After I have formatted the harddrive the system reboots as its meant to. When it boots up, it says "Press any key to boot from CD". I ignore this and wait for it to boot from the harddrive. However it doesn't do it. The system just sits there with "Press any key to boot from CD...." with the symbol _ flashing after it. I have removed the cd to ensure it's not trying to boot from the cd but it just sits there with _ flashing.

The only thing that I think of that might be responsible for this is that I didnt install Sata drivers for the harddrive. Thats because I have read that xp installs this ( I only have one sata harddrive, so im not trying to set up Raid 0 or anything). And if that is the problem, then another problem occurs because I dont have a floppy drive in my laptop.

The harddrive is detected by the system as it appears in the bios.

Any help would be appreciated

Username!

Press any key to launch the XP install, sounds like you didn't even install it yet.

Benzino

well thats what im trying to do, is install it. It has already formatted the drive and copied the files over to it that it needs to begin the set up. The problem is that its not loading up the GUI where you choose you settings and it begins installing etc.

sandleman1979

Best thing to try is, go through the install process of formatting and copying basic files...

Once done the install process says the machine will restart in 15 secs or if you press enter it will reboot now... Reboot the machine but eject the cd and take the cd out whilst it reboots.

See if it starts the next section of the install and insert the cd once the next section starts, this will show if the first part of the install worked or not as there will be no cd to try booting from..

If you formatted the drive, then that means windows saw the sata drive fine, you would have been told if the install process could not see the drive.

Benzino

sandleman1979 wrote: »

Best thing to try is, go through the install process of formatting and copying basic files...

Once done the install process says the machine will restart in 15 secs or if you press enter it will reboot now... Reboot the machine but eject the cd and take the cd out whilst it reboots.

See if it starts the next section of the install and insert the cd once the next section starts, this will show if the first part of the install worked or not as there will be no cd to try booting from..

If you formatted the drive, then that means windows saw the sata drive fine, you would have been told if the install process could not see the drive.

I tried that as well and it didnt work either Thanks though.

I was on the phone with alienware (laptop manufacturer) for 2 straight hours and we came to the conclusion that it was a problem with the harddrive as it did exactly the same thing when trying to install Vista and a bios update did nothing either. So they are sending me out a new harddrive which will hopefully solve this strange problem.

layke

Username! wrote: »

Press any key to launch the XP install, sounds like you didn't even install it yet.

No it doesn't, it will always do that while you have the XP cd in the drive. You just don't have to press the any key and it should read the HDD next assuming the boot order in the bios is setup correctly.

No offense to Alienware support but that sounds like a last resort 'I can't fix this so get the F*** off the phone' kind of response. If windows/bios picked up the HDD and you were able to copy files to it after previously running Vista it should be fine. I can't imagine how unlikely it is to stop working during that window where you formatted the drive.

I would say it's one of two things.

Either your BIOS is not set to use the correct boot order (CD,HDD...etc change this to HDD 1st boot device) or
the Sata driver is not installed correctly. In which case you can try to download the latest version from your motherboard vendor's website and see if it works.

Benzino

layke wrote: »

No it doesn't, it will always do that while you have the XP cd in the drive. You just don't have to press the any key and it should read the HDD next assuming the boot order in the bios is setup correctly.

No offense to Alienware support but that sounds like a last resort 'I can't fix this so get the F*** off the phone' kind of response. If windows/bios picked up the HDD and you were able to copy files to it after previously running Vista it should be fine. I can't imagine how unlikely it is to stop working during that window where you formatted the drive.

I would say it's one of two things.

Either your BIOS is not set to use the correct boot order (CD,HDD...etc change this to HDD 1st boot device) or
the Sata driver is not installed correctly. In which case you can try to download the latest version from your motherboard vendor's website and see if it works.

Well its not too bad as they are sending me out the new HDD and then I send them the "broken" one, so I don't have to wait long.

I tried changing the boot order and it didnt work either. I'll have to contact alienware to see what motherboard is in the laptop. Thanks for the tips.

Benzino

Got the new HDD today and have now installed XP, must have been the HDD after all. Thanks for the help.