XP Installation Problem

[theFallenOne]

Hey what's up people. I am trying to install XP and it crashes when it says "Setup is Starting Windows". I am trying it on two formatted hard drives, a samsung and an IBM. And they both crash at the same place. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. If you require additional info please let me know and I'll get it for you. Thank you for your time.

[muert0]

http://www.pcmech.com/show/os/722/

4. Problem 310760
This problem is when the installation of Windows XP halts when the message of "Setup is starting Windows" is displayed. This error is caused by a number of variables. However, the most common is an incompatibly old motherboard BIOS or SATA disk drivers that aren't loaded. You can find the documented issue here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310760

If you follow the link there a re a few different problems it could be. How old is your BIOS?

[theFallenOne]

Here is the story on the computer. It's my brother's friend's computer. Her boyfriend bought her a new case. So my brother took everything from her old case and put it into the new one. Now, she had XP already installed on her hard drive but it wouldn't boot up, it would just hang after the it displayed the windows XP logo. So we reformatted the hard drive and now we can't get passed the "Setup is Starting Windows". As for how old the bios is, it's probably a few years old cause the motherboard is pretty old too. Thanks for your quick reply.

[theFallenOne]

Oh, the BIOS is Award 6.000

[Und3ertak3r]

he had XP already installed on her hard drive but it wouldn't boot up,

I take it that XP was on the drive Before the move to the new case.. That would tell me that some thing has changed between the 2 Hardware setups..
HAs there been hardware changed, replaced, added..
It is possable that the CMOS was corrupted during the transfer.. have you tried to clear the cmos?

cheers

[theFallenOne]

No new hardware was added to the new case. Just whatever she had in her old one got put into the new case. We've tried clearing the CMOS and it still crashes.

[Und3ertak3r]

OK.. Disconnect everything except HDD Vidcard and CPU.. if the machine has 2 or more sticks of ram remove all except 1.. Unplug Frontpanel connections.. except power sw & led.

It worked B4.. so some thing has failed during the swap.. static zap.. (you may be advised to keep the CMOS reset jumper on while removeing the CMOS battery.. leave the jumper in place for 10mins.. before returning to normal then installing the BATTERY)
You may need to get a spare VideoCard..

The Hint here is the machine didn't boot after the transfer..

[theFallenOne]

Thanks for the help Undertaker. My brother was finally able to get it to install by removing one of the two sticks of RAM. That did the trick beautifully. That was very frustrating indeed but thanks for all your help and suggestions.

[hypronix]

Does it work at all with the second stick now? If you try to hook it after Windows install? I remember somebody with a similar problem, added some incompatible RAM and the system wouldn't even pass the BIOS stuff... had him remove the new RAM, remove CMOS battery and have it back together after a while.

You might want to try a different slot if available, swapping RAM sticks or something... I'd assume something got damaged in the transfer around there but maybe not all is lost.