Here's a switch, I have a computer question... (XP Install)

The point is, I'm not getting to any point where I'm asked for a key. It's freezing at the DOS-based boot point, just before it normally begins the regular Windows installation, where you get the simplified GUI.

I wish it were as simple as an incorrect CD key, or me trying to bootleg something, but this is extremely legitimate, and appears to be a hardware or BIOS issue or something.

 

Yes I can, and no I don't have Linux lying around... unfortunately.

I used to have a copy of Windows ME, but I can't seem to find it.

 

The thing about this is that I can reboot, and it will still spin just fine until it gets to the exact same point. I've done it like 7 times.

As far as the format, it was previously partitioned with FAT32. I guess the first thing I'll do is to delete the partition and create an NTFS partition. I actually thought about that earlier, but there's no reason why you can't install XP on a FAT32 partition. That's what my computer has.

 

See, this is the sort of question I would have felt comfortable answering this morning. Now I'm not so sure.

 

http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/reinstall-reformat-winxp/index.html#reinstallxp

Here's how to wipe a hard drive that uses FAT32 as a file allocation system. (If you don't know what that is, go here.)

You can do this one of two ways by using the Windows XP startup disks or if your computer supports a bootable CD-ROM -- most computers built since 2001 have this feature -- use the Recovery Console tool on the Windows XP CD-ROM. More on that shortly.

First, remember that reformatting a hard disk deletes all of the data that is on it, so make sure that you back up your data before you reformat the disk. That data is unrecoverable afterwards. It's gone forever.

To use the Windows XP Recovery Console to reformat a drive, follow these steps:

Start the computer by using the Windows XP CD-ROM (in the CDROM drive) or the start-up disks (in the floppy drive).
You need to go into your BIOS to change the boot sequence to do this making your CD-ROM drive your primary boot device. (How to do this.)

Once the computer has booted from the CD you'll see a "Welcome to Windows Setup" screen appear and after all the drivers have loaded (shown along the bottom),

[for the record, this is where mine craps out]

press F10 or wait and choose to use the recovery console (choose item #2).

In the "Recovery Console" (learn more about that that is at Microsoft.com click here), specify the appropriate Windows installation. It will be listed. It's probably #1. Then log on by using your Windows XP Administrator password. You are probably the administrator and the password if you have never assigned is probably blank, so just hit the Enter key. If you run Windows XP Pro and want to turn off the password prompt then learn how here.

Next, type:

map

and hit the ENTER key.

Note the drive that you want to reformat. The drive letters may be different in the Recovery Console from what they are in Windows XP, but if you want ti reformat the C: drive then its the largest.

Next, type:

format C:

Or if you don't want to format C, type the drive letter of the hard drive that you want to format instead. Hit your ENTER key.

Next, type:

y

Then press ENTER to continue. When the formatting process is finished, type

exit

and then press the ENTER key to restart the computer.

 

Okay... I'm back home and still no luck.

I have:
- Used a different harddrive, one of my own that I know works
- Used a different CD-ROM drive, again, that I know works
- Deleted the partition completely
- Deleted the partition, reformatted the drive
- Changed the jumper settings on the harddrive
- Used a different (brand new out of the box - they came in the mail today) Windows XP CD

I'm running out of ideas, here...

 

I've now tried to remove and replace the video card, which is an expansion card. Now that you mention it I'll try another one.

I tried replacing the RAM, and that didn't work.

 

That worked!

So it turns out it was a bad video card after all that. Man, that's some wierd stuff.

Thanks for the ideas, everybody that offered suggestions.

Glad that nightmare's over.