Xp/Win2000 load problems

[maddoj]

I have the same problem installing XP pro and Win2000.I have a Gigabyte board kt400 and an AMD 2000 chip 512k ram. When I try to install XP or Win2000 the files are copied so fast it seems to skip files in the same place everytime before I can finish either installation.I took out the 56x dive and put in a 52x drive. No change. I'll probally put in a DVD drive tonight that will write about 40x to see if this will change,also I changed the speed down to 1500 from 2000 by moving a jumper.It still writes past or hangs on Pro_seg5 file in 2000..A different file in XP. Let me know what this problem could be!!!

 

[jrbarnett]

Have you tried creating a Fat32 partition on the hard drive, copying the I386 directory and subfolders from the CD to the hard drive and running WINNT.EXE from there?

(this is an old trick dating back to NT4 for installing it on cheapo machines without CD-ROM drives)

John

 

[maddoj]

Thanks John, Do you know why this is happening..It always hangs on files when it's 70% done writing to the hard drive?
It does it on both XP and Win2000.Also how do I do what you described without an operating sytem. Also I can get NT on the drive but when I install the servce pack it's errors installing it..It seems like the chip writing to the drive is fast and skiping files.
Thanks Mike

 

[jrbarnett]

Have you got a Windows 95 or 98 system that you could use to make up a DOS bootdisk on?
If so, put a blank floppy in the drive and type
FORMAT A: /S <RETURN>
then let the disk format, and copy the following files to the disk:
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\FDISK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\FORMAT.COM
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\XCOPY.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\XCOPY32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE

Open the file C:\CONFIG.SYS in Notepad and take a look for a line that starts DEVICE= and bears a resemblance to a CD-ROM drive, such as ATAPI.SYS, CDROM.SYS or something similar. It will have a parameter after the name starting /D:<and then an identifier>, eg /D:MSCD001
Copy this file onto the floppy disk as well.

Open Notepad and copy and paste the following text as A:\CONFIG.SYS (make sure it doesn't get an extra .TXT extension on the end).
DEVICE=A:\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DOS=HIGH,UMB
LASTDRIVE=Z

Put a line in relating to the CD-ROM driver as well saying something like
DEVICE=A:\cdromdrive.sys /d:mscd001

and save this as A:\CONFIG.SYS

Copy the following text to Notepad and save as A:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

@ECHO OFF
A:\MSCDEX /D:MSCD001
PATH AROMPT $P$G

Next, test the disk. Put it in floppy drive A: and start the PC up. Let it run. You should end up with a prompt saying A:\> after a few messages saying CD-ROM assigned a particular letter. This may be different to what Windows assigns it but it doesn't matter.

Type FDISK <RETURN> and follow the instructions to create a new primary partition of the maximum size, and say yes to make it active. Let the PC reboot off the floppy disk after this has finished. Let the machine boot up again.
Type FORMAT C: /S <RETURN> and let the partition format. Give it an empty volume label when prompted.

Put your Win2K or XP Pro CD in the drive.
Type the following commands at the prompt:
MD C:\I386 <RETURN>
XCOPY x:\I386\*.* C:\I386 /S /E <RETURN>

Replace x with the letter of your CD/DVD drive in the last command.
Once all the files have copied, type the following:
C: <RETURN> (the command prompt should change to C:\>)
CD \I386 <RETURN> (command prompt should change to C:\I386>
WINNT <RETURN> (your operating system installer should fire up).

I have written this off the top of my head, so there is quite a good chance I may have forgotten something. Please feel free to get back to me if these don't work with any error messages and the stage you get to.

John

 

[wolluf]

maddoj - from your symptoms I'd suspect you have a hardware problem. If so, any alternative methods of starting install will not help - you'd need to identify the culprit part & replace it (elimination - I'd start with RAM).

 

[jrbarnett]

Maddoj
Wolluf has hit the nail on the head with his comments about the memory. In your original post you say the PC has 512K of RAM. The only OS that can run in this amount is MS-DOS. You won't get any version of Windows running in it unless you use 2.0.

John

 

[maddoj]

Thank you very much you have been a gem..Mike

 

[maddoj]

Thanks wolluf, I'll take out 256 and see what happens..I'll replace it because it's 512k stick..I hope that solves the problem. You and jrbarnett are probally right..Thanks again I'll let you know what happened..I'm building a house in Bermuda and don't have much time to mess with the PC..My wife is the boss and I don't have much time..(smile)