Problems while installing Windows XP

Question

I have a big problem during the install of Windows XP. First I insert the CD and accept the contract, select the partition, copy the files and restart the computer.

But when the installation then starts, after a few minutes, there is a problem. The screen turns blue, and a message is shown that it is posible that new software or hadware is causing problems, but I don't have an operation system and neither new hardware.

After of this I tried to install again so I insert the CD and accept the contract. But when I select the partition, it wasn't formatted, and when I tried to format it, it was impossible. OMG!

I waited a few minutes and tried again, and then had a change could make.

I read that maybe the microprocessor is warming too. Could it be?

Answer 1

Possibly an AHCI/RAID driver issue? An easy way to check would be to change the BIOS setting for the SATA mode from AHCI/RAID to legacy.

Answer 2

Can you provide the full verbiage of the blue screen?

If you suspect that the CPU is overheating, you can monitor that with 3rd party utilities like http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/

You might want to check your motherboard's docs - sometimes they come included.

Answer 3

In addition to what has been said:

Make sure your install cd is clean and drive is working correctly. I have seen some crazy errors halfway into a windows install because the disc was dying or the cd drive was flaky. If those are good, then you might have other hardware issues.

Answer 4

Yes, it sounds like a hardware fault to me.

Answer 5

hardware fault, probably memory. test it with this: http://www.memtest.org/

Answer 6

I think Matt Hanson has exactly what the problem is, I ran into this a few weeks ago with an XP install on a new laptop model.

Windows XP (even SP3) doesn't have any pre-setup drivers for SATA disk controllers in it, so setup gets to a point where I can't even find a hard disk controller and blue screens. If your machine is less than a couple of years old then you almost certainly have a SATA hard disk.

You have two options, either do what Matt suggested and go into your BIOS and see if you can switch your disk controller into a "Legacy" or "ATA" mode.

Or if your PC or MoBo came with a driver disk it may have a set of DOS-mode (or Windows pre-setup) drivers that you can insert when Windows setup gives you the "Press F5 to load SCSI disk drivers" prompt. Otherwise if you can find out exactly which SATA controller and version is on your motherboard, then you can probably download the Windows setup drivers from the manufacturer's website.

Answer 7

If failures are not occurring at the same point in the install, then it's most likely you have failing hardware in your PC as opposed to just a driver incompatibility issue.

You're going to have to remove and replace piece by piece to find out what's going on. So if you suspect the hard drive, put another hard drive in it and see if that one works better.

Some components can fail after they heat up to a certain point, yes. But there's no way to give you a definitive answer on what's happening based on the information you provide...