Can't install XP on a Sony Vaio desktop

Verres

As the title says, I'm having difficulty installing XP on a Sony Vaio model "PCV-W1/G". I'll break it down step by step as it's easier to see the salient points that way:

i) Mate's 10 year old Sony Vaio desktop (XP) with TV Tuner card (Giga Pocket Software) gets a rootkit

ii) It's properly banjaxed so I DBAN it

iii) I installed Win7 and turned off the fancy UI stuff and it ran fine.

iv) But the TV Tuner card has no Win7 drivers

v) and you can't install Giga Pocket software on Win7 (I tried and no dice. I also tried installing in compatability mode for XP SP2 and SP3, and no dice.)so the Vaio Remote control that came with the PC doesn't work

vi) So I decieded to reinstall XP (which the machine was originally built with)

vii) So I pop in my (legit) XP install disk and boot from disk

viii) After a while it pauses on a blue screen with "Setup is Starting Windows" in the bottom border

ix) Then: BSOD. (The usual message and some memory addresses)

x) So I DBAN it again as I know that some Linux installs leave their GRUB on the disk and don't want to be overwritten with XP, and maybe win7 has something similar.

xi) No dice - still loooong pause at "Setup is Starting Windows" and then BSOD.

Hunting around the web various people have said that their are BIOS settings that might be preventing a smooth install. I've hit F2 and trawled through the (rather meager) options that it gives me - nothing there.

So, this machine was OEM built with XP so I know it can take it. Any ideas how to get it onto the machine?

The only thing I haven't tried is flashing the BIOS with a newer version (if one exists). Although I'm a tinkerer by nature, I'm reticent to try flashing the BIOS on someone elses PC as it (occasionally) goes wrong and you could be goosed (expecially since this is a uni-body Vaio desktop and I don't know how easy it would be to get at the BIOS jumper pins if I needed them).

So what's my next step? Any ideas / hints / thoughts?

fionny

I wonder is there a problem with the Hard disk or RAM that is causing the windows install to crash. I would get a copy of Hirens and running checks on the drive and the ram and see if anything crops up.

Verres

Will do - cheers. But since I could install Win7 (and run it without any issues or error messages) I'm guessing that it's probably not a hardware issue.

I'll check it out though. Anyone else?

fionny

I think windows 7 would be a touch smarter and not write on bad sectors... just speculating though.

Verres

Hmmm, that never crossed my mind. I guess it's possible.

I'll try HIREN and report back.

Keep the suggestions coming.

Poco90

What service pack is the xp install disk? I had a similar problem a few years ago with a sp3 disk on an old machine. Using an sp1 or sp2 disk sorted it. My guess was the hardware didn't like one of the up to date drivers on the sp3 disk.

Verres

^Hmm good qs. IIRC it's SP3; I'll double check when I go home.

If it's SP3, I have no idea where I'll get an SP1 install disk. Cheers for the suggestion.

Verres

Solved - finally. I booted up Hirens, and started MiniXP. Then took out Hirens disk and put in the proper XP install disk. It asked me where I wanted to install the OS and bobs my uncle.

Weird that it worked.