Why won't Windows XP install???

[Fiercest]

Hey everyone. Hope everyones chillin'.

Here's my situation. I just bought a HDD and Windows XP and was planning to install it today. However, shortly after the install process (and by shortly, I mean RIGHT AFTER the progress bar fills up to 100%, and STILL in the 'Scandisk Blue' background setup program that gets booted off the CD) I get the following message:

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Setup cannot set the required Windows XP configuration information. This indicates an internal Setup error.

Contact your system administrator.
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Now obviously, the contacting of the system administrator is a joke and I can ignore it, but what the hell is it talking about with regards to not being able to set the config info???

Why won't my Windows XP install? If there's something wrong with my computer that won't let the installation complete, what's the problem?

I must've blown over $300 getting this new HDD and XP CD! :mad:

How do I fix this!? :grr:

Again, all replies are welcome and appreciated! Thanks in advance! :cheers:

-Fiercest :thumb:

[Beefy]

Computer specs?

[Fiercest]

Specs as follows:

-Tyan S2390B Motherboard which uses the VIA Apollo KT133A Chipset
-Athlon XP 1700+ at 1.47Ghz
-512 MB of SDRAM
-Maxtor 80.0GB w/ 8MB cache - This is the one I bought to install XP on, so it's brand new and I installed the NTFS partition through the XP install program
-ATI Radeon 9500 Pro
-Sound Blaster Audigy MP3+
-D-Link DFE-538TX 10/100 Adapter

Need anything else? Just ask.

-Fiercest :thumb:

[Beefy]

However, shortly after the install process (and by shortly, I mean RIGHT AFTER the progress bar fills up to 100%, and STILL in the 'Scandisk Blue' background setup program that gets booted off the CD) I get the following message:

...................................

-Maxtor 80.0GB w/ 8MB cache - This is the one I bought to install XP on, so it's brand new and I installed the NTFS partition through the XP install program

Two things I'd try:

- Try a FAT partition and see if that makes a difference
- Do the whole first part of the setup in a different computer. When it asks you to reboot for the first time, turn it off and put it back in your PC.

[Fiercest]

Sounds good, but I may have left out something potentially important.

My Windows XP CD is a Windows XP Pro Upgrade CD I bought from my college. It was bought under a student license and didn't come with a box or an instruction booklet or anything, so I guess this would make it the "Academic" version of XP Pro, though I don't have any label or something to confirm that suspicion.

Also, this sale definitely wasn't on the shady side, as I bought it from my college's official store and had to fill out a student license agreement and everything. Just thought I'd mention that in case it meant anything.

Your second suggestion sounds good, but there's something odd regarding your first suggestion.

During the XP setup program, when I created the partition and formatted it to NTFS, I don't recall it asking me if I wanted to format the partition in FAT. Since I did this like 3 hours ago, I know my memory isn't playing tricks on me. All it asked me was whether I wanted to format the partition in 1) NTFS (Quick Format) or 2) NTFS.

I've already tried installing XP with both options, deleting and recreating the partition each time. I get the same error at the end of both attempts.

As for your second suggestion, it's definitely worth a shot, however I'm not entirely sure I have a suitable second computer with which to try this idea out. The only other computer in my home except the one I'm having trouble with is my dad's, and I don't even think his rig passes the minimum requirements of XP!

I'll definitely check it out though when I get a chance. For now, I have to head out and fix my friend's computer. The irony is delicious. :laugh:

If you could think of any other things I could attempt, no matter how crazy, please post them. Also, if you'd like to save me a few minutes of searching, posting the minimum requirements for the XP setup program to run would be great. That way, I can just glance at your reply, then check my dad's comp rather then search for the requirements off Microsoft's site.

One last thing. I haven't formatted my other hard drive yet, which has my Windows 98SE installation on it. That's how I'm posting these messages online from my computer right now. So if there's anything I should search my system for (ie. with a diagnostic program or something) in order to get it to finish the damn XP install program, please post that as well and I'll get right on it.

Thanks again for all the help.

-Fiercest :thumb:

P.S.

LoL, sorry, but a thought just occurred to me:

How I'm running the XP install program is as follows: I hook up my brand new HDD, change the boot priority so my CD-Rom is first, restart the system with the XP CD in the CD-Rom drive and then hit a key when it says "Hit any key to boot from CD."

If there's another way to run the XP install program, say by copying the install files to my harddrive and then running the program off the harddrive, (which I've heard of but only know how to do with Win98SE, not XP) or any other crazy tricked out way of running the install program that I could try, please post that as well. Thanks! :cheers:

[PrairieDawg]

Have only installed XP on a couple of new hard drives (and a few old ones) but both were Maxtors. I'm no pro but both times I formatted and partionioned the HDs with MaxBlast first http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/dow.../maxblast3.htm . Might be worth a shot to d-load the Maxblast utility onto a floppy and start from there.

[Telemachus]

It's probably highly unlikely but you haven't by any chance got boot sector protection or something similar enabled in the bios, it's just that I recall going mad trying to get winXP to install and it failing on me right at the very end repeatedly.

[Yawgm0th]

My Windows XP CD is a Windows XP Pro Upgrade CD I bought from my college.

How are you installing it? Are you booting to the CD (I don't think you can with an upgrade version) or are you installing it from Windows 98? Try partitioning + formatting from 98 (in FAT32 as. suggested), then installing from 98 on the second partition.

[Beefy]

How are you installing it? Are you booting to the CD (I don't think you can with an upgrade version) or are you installing it from Windows 98? Try partitioning + formatting from 98 (in FAT32 as. suggested), then installing from 98 on the second partition.

That's a super long way to do it. The Upgrade will still install fresh from CD, it just asks for another previous Windows CD for verification.

[Yawgm0th]

Even if you boot into it? Didn't know it worked that way (have full myself). But if he formats from 98 it might fix the problem he's having.

[asklepios]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316425

looks like there is no easy solution available. you'll have to search for a piece of hardware that is incompatible with WinXP. go through the link provided and look for that hardware.
secondly, the reason why you did not see the option to format the HD as FAT at the time of setup is because it is by design that a partition greater than 32GB cannot be formatted as FAT while installing WinXP.

[Fiercest]

This is just great....... GRRRRR! :grr:

Ok, I went to the Windows Catalog and searched for entries of all my hardware.

The only things that didn't come up as confirmed to be Designed or Compatible with Windows XP were my:

-ATI Radeon 9500 Pro
-Tyan S2390B Motherboard

Everything else, from my LG burner to my D-Link NIC had an entry.

Now obviously, the Radeon 9500 Pro works fine under XP from all the benchmarking articles I've read that include it, so that and the fact that other Radeons (older and newer) are on the site leads me to believe the exclusion of the plain vanilla Radeon 9500 Pro is simply an oversight.

However, it seems like I've zeroed in on my problem. My Tyan motherboard doesn't seem to be recognized by Windows XP. Ironically, I must've felt this day coming years ago when I visited a forum and asked my fellow enthusiasts why I'd never heard of "Tyan" motherboards and whether or not I should buy one. Too bad they said it was simply a lesser known mobo company and it was fine to buy one. Thanks alot guys! :shoot3:

So, am I correct in assuming I blew $300+ for no immediate gain to my OS situation, and that the only way to install XP successfully is to buy a more recent motherboard? Or is there a more timely option I have yet to consider? Mobos ain't cheap you know.

Anything I can do? ANYTHING!?? This really sucks!! :cry:

-Fiercest

[Wiggo]

Tyan has been around for a long time and specialise in server motherboards but the prob maybe fixed with a BIOS update so head on over to Tyan and see what's available to ya.

[Fiercest]

I've already been to the Tyan site, making sure my BIOS was super up to date before I swapped out HDDs and attempted to install XP. I have BIOS version 1.11 with my motherboard.

I only reason I'm using this version and not the 1.13 BIOS is because I have an Athlon XP 1700+ and the 1.13 BIOS Fixes AMD 1700+ Model 8 CPU Identification issue . I tried this BIOS before and I don't know if my 1700+ is a Model 8 or not but suddenly my CPU wasn't being detected correctly. So the v1.13 was doing more harm then good in my particular situation. Thus, I took a step back to v1.11 and no more problems.

I very much doubt it's possible the simple CPU ID issue between v1.11 and v1.13 of my motherboards BIOS is causing my inability to install XP.

However, I will try it if I absolutely have too.

Any more suggestions/help?

-Fiercest :thumb:

[maximus7001]

Beefy's original advice of trying fat is a simple process, and should work. Use a 98se bootdisc to erase the partition, recreate the partition and format the partition with a fat32. Then the xp setup will give you the option of formatting in fat32 as well as ntfs. Then format it in fat32(not quick) with xp setup and install xp. Get the via drivers in there at the first desktop.
Being a system builder, I have had to do this with new machines sometimes as none of the makers of the parts wants to deal with such issues. Just recently I have determined this usually tends to happen with the non sp1 version of xp as the last 2 machines that did this, did not do it after redoing them with xp sp1.
Since you are stuck with the disc you have, the fat option seems to be your only way.

Have you tried all jumper settings. Or without a jumper at all?

edit... fat32 works best with drives 40gb and smaller, but will still work with larger drives.

Also try what prariedawg said about maxblast3, this may be the only way to get it to work with ntfs.