CAN'T INSTALL HD

[psychson]

I've been trying to replace a HD and I keep getting nowhere.
The computer I have was built by someone. I have no idea what kind of motherboard there is or much information. It used to have a XP Profesional installed, pentium 3 and a 40GB HD. All of a sudden it would not start. I kept getting the black screen with a couple options, such as start on safe mode, start on last good configuration and so on. Whichever I chose, never worked and the screen kept coming back. So, I decided to changed the hard drive, thinking that was the problem. I purchased a 100GB Seagate, put in and loaded the cd wizard that came along. After taken the cd to reboot I got something on my screen instead of the continuation of the Seagate HD wizard:
NOVELL NETWARE READY FIRMWARE v1.00(940810)
VIA PCI 10/100Mb FAST ETHERNET ADAPTER v.3.33(11/09/2001)
ANALYZING NETWORK MEDIA TYPE, THIS WILL TAKE SEVERAL SECONDS....
RPL-ROM-ADR: 000A E688 278C
RPL-ROM-IRQ: 11
RPL-ROM-PIO: D800

RPL-ROM-FFC: 73 (this number keeps moving up)
The numbers counting seems that will never stop. I pushed CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart and the same message would come back again . So, I decided to put a XP installation cd and go from there. At firt it told me that I need to partition the HD and then format. I did that and it looked like XP was about to be installed. To my surprise it did not and there is no way I can install it. I keep coming back to the same blue screen: TO SET UP WINDOWS XP NOW, PRESS ENTER; TO REPAIR A WINDOWS XP INSTALATION USING RECOVERY CONSOLE, PRESS R..... AND SO ON.
Once I press ENTER, push F8 to agree with Microsoft license, shows me the existing partitions on my HD. Once I choose, it tell me that I chose to install windows XP on a partition that already contain another operating system. How is it possible if the HD is new, blank ?
If I chose to go ahead and suppose overwrite the existing XP, I still go nowhere and keep coming back to the begining where it all started.
I'm sorry for making a long description, but I'm completely lost. I have no idea how to end this silly cycle.
I cannot make the XP install no matter what, even in the old HD.
Would anybody have any idea of what is my problem? What I'm doing wrong ?
Any suggestion ?
I'd really, really apreciated any help.
Thanks.
Sonia

 

[Freestone]

The Novell message means that the system is trying to boot from your Network Interface Card (NIC). Somewhere in BIOS there is a boot order. Remove the NIC from this boot ordering scheme.

"If I chose to go ahead and suppose overwrite the existing XP, I still go nowhere and keep coming back to the begining where it all started."

After how long a delay? Do any files get copied?

 

[psychson]

I thought it could be something as you said, so I physically removed the network card and the message still comes. Do I have to remove from the BOOT order the NIC? Is it supposed to be in the boot order in the first place ?
Thanks again.

 

[cdogg]

FIRST OF ALL, YES, REMOVE THE NIC FROM THE BOOT ORDER.

If that doesn't do it, then I suspect that something you did with the Seagate installation CD added something to the drive that you didn't want.

I suggestion using a Seagate utility to delete existing partitions and start over by creating a new one (format NTFS is my recommendation). Be absolutely certain that the Seagate utility is not installing any kind of security or monitoring tool.

Also during this process, detach any PCI card and other devices that you don't need (including your NIC). Check the BIOS again to make sure the NIC is not in the list.

Then try to install Windows XP again.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[Freestone]

Follow cdogg's usual excellent advice and remove the NIC from the boot order, and remove any exisiting partitions on the hard drive.

Here are a couple of sites with step by step XP installation insgtructions:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/xp_home_install_-_graphic.htm

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp