Help! Installing XP pro on a Dell.

[Racy Jace]

Hi, I ve got a new Dell 9200 pc and Im trying to put a leagle copy of XP pro on it but every time I try it I get a blue screen with an error message on. I wanted to install XP on my slave drive so I can flick between the drives but I cant even get that far yet.

Does anyone know how I can install a fresh version of XP on a new Dell?

Cheers

 

[kully]

not to clever on this sort of stuff , but try booting form cd in the bios settings ?

f8 on start up or summert ....

 

[Nightfire]

I had this too, turned out to be one of the memory stick thingies were nackered.

 

[Racy Jace]

If done the F12 boot from cd thing and it starts to load a few files then BAM blue screen and an error. I think its reading something on the motherboard but I cant really see anything to turn off. It said to turn off shadowing and caheing but I cant see that option in the bios.

Stupid dell crap!

 

[Racy Jace]

I had this too, turned out to be one of the memory stick thingies were nackered.

So If I try taking a few sticks of ram out it might work?

 

[Nightfire]

It could be something more simple. Try writing down what the error says, someone 'in the know' will be able to tel you more, but that's the problem I had

 

[Longy]

What is the error message on the blue screen?

HAL problem?

 

[GordonD]

The Dell 9200 uses SATA drives doesn't it?

Are you installing the SATA driver at the start of the XP install?

 

[Racy Jace]

Hi, Ive been trying different things allday and I just cant get it to work.

All im doing is booting off the cd. It loads a few drivers etc then when it says starting windows it crashes.

I actually want to install xp on my 2nd drive . even with that drive plugged in only it wont work.

Im sure its simple to fix but its really doing my head in now.

Ill try again and take a pic of he blue screen

 

[BenWall]

ok, you can put the error message into windows site and will give you the reason

 

[Racy Jace]

 

[Racy Jace]

Any ideas?

Which part do I paste into M$ website?

 

[Longy]

When booting off the CD at which point does it crash?

 

[Racy Jace]

When booting off the CD at which point does it crash?

when it says starting windows at the bottom of the screen it then crashes.

 

[Longy]

hmm strange one, can you take a photo of your bios?

Also windows XP home boots normally?

sometimes dell's have problems with dual booting machines because of the hidden partitions. As you've not even got that far it sames odd.

No scratchs on your CD? virus protection off in your bios - also can you take a pic just before the crash and as soon as it boots of disk (each different screen in the process? (or a small video file of the boot process?

 

[Gareth]

as said, could be a faulty memory stick, if you've got a few in there, remove some and try installing.

 

[Longy]

Also is your graphics card PCI-express? and is your XP pro a newish version (SP2?)

 

[FiXX]

disable pci x-16 install the os then install sp2 and re-enable .

 

[Longy]

Only SP2 supports PCI-Express if it isn't SP2 you will get this error

try slipstreaming SP2
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

 

[Racy Jace]

Hi sorry for the delay I got hooked on COD 3 online

Ive got 4x512mb of ram and took 2 sticks out and that didnt work

XP Pro is SP1
XP home is SP2

Both dont work at the minute.

GFX card is a 7900gs PCI-Express


Ill try disabling a few things and try again.

ill have to read up on that slipstreaming as I dont what that is yet.

Cheers for the help so far

 

[Longy]

ahh yeah thats your problem!

XP pro SP1 -> needs to be XP Pro SP2

 

[Racy Jace]

I think your right. At about 2.30 this morning I made progress You have to disable the raid thing and put the drivers on a floppy drive when doing a fresh install. im still doing it now so Ill see how it goes

 

[Racy Jace]

Last night a put xp pro x64 on. Then i tried my normal XP pro sp1 and it worked. Im just updating to sp2 at the moment so hopefully its all done.

 

[Mike_182]

Nothing at all to do with the PCI-E card - you can install Win98 on a machine with PCI-E card, it just doesn't use the functionality.

The problem he had, and consequently managed to get around, was because he has an SATA drive configured natively rather than in compatible mode. As such you need to install drivers for it otherwise it turns inside out when it can't find the controller...

 

[Longy]

Nothing at all to do with the PCI-E card - you can install Win98 on a machine with PCI-E card, it just doesn't use the functionality.

The problem he had, and consequently managed to get around, was because he has an SATA drive configured natively rather than in compatible mode. As such you need to install drivers for it otherwise it turns inside out when it can't find the controller...

Some people had the same problem and SP2 fixed it thats all i was suggesting (maybe they have updated drivers for the sata in SP2).

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic16553.html

 

[Mike_182]

Nothing at all to do with the PCI-E card - you can install Win98 on a machine with PCI-E card, it just doesn't use the functionality.

The problem he had, and consequently managed to get around, was because he has an SATA drive configured natively rather than in compatible mode. As such you need to install drivers for it otherwise it turns inside out when it can't find the controller...

Some people had the same problem and SP2 fixed it thats all i was suggesting (maybe they have updated drivers for the sata in SP2).

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic16553.html

Updated SATA (AHCI and RAID support) drivers in SP2 means instead of crashing it tells you it can't find controllers... AFAIK. I may be wrong but that's my experience, I've installed XP SP1 on my machine with X1900s in before!