XP on new box

**jc0033** · January 12th, 2005, 10:12 AM

Hey all,
I'm having a little problem I havent run into before. I just put together a new box. AOpen ak86l mobo, amd64 2800+, 1 sick of supertalent 512 DDR400 in dimm1. regular ide config with wd8000.
box also includes pny geforce 5700 le

When I boot off of xp pro disc I get the initial dos based boot screen telling me windows is detecting my hardware. After a few seconds the screen goes blank and after another few moments the cd drive stops spinning. No further activity at all.

I tried booting off of a 98 boot. Navigated to i386 on cd and started to load running wnnt. It started copying files over but again stopped after a few moments.

I was able to successfully install w2k pro booting off of the cd and Suse 9.2 can also install ok. Its just a prob installing XP. Thinking it may be a media issue , I tried 2 other xp pro disks with the exact same results.

Has anyone else run into something like this or have any ideas ?? Could I need to update bios ???

Any ideas greatly appreciated .

**SolApathy** · January 12th, 2005, 11:18 AM

It could be a variety of issues, from defective RAM, defective CD-ROM, under-powered PSU, hardware accessories it does not like...

If you have any additional hardware, like TV cards, nic card, capture....etc....try removing them all. One of them could be causing your system to hang during the install.

**jc0033** · January 12th, 2005, 11:35 AM

I should have added I removed all but 1 stick of ram , video , mouse, hdd and keyboard. I have 2 opticals I tried alternately. I guess windows xp could be real picky about the ram although no other os is complaining. I successfully installed w2k pro, then 2k server, then suse 9.2 after trying unsuccessfully to put xp on.
Any other ideas besides dodgy ram ??

**TechZ** · January 12th, 2005, 12:54 PM

How about a defective copy of XP? And I've had no probs about XP and ram, from cheap stuff, to high end brands, it all works.

**nunob** · January 12th, 2005, 01:24 PM

In the past I have had to run wdclear on a drive to get it to load. If you dont have wdclear let me know and I can try to email it to you.

**jc0033** · January 12th, 2005, 02:14 PM

thanks guys,

I've never had any problems loading it before either. At least not a problem like this. I just used one of the disks to load it on my old box . A very ancient k63 450 no prob. Its also ok on an msi mobo, athlon xp 2800+ system. Same disk, same optical, same hdd. diff mobo, graphics and mem.

I have a zero write utility, killdisk. It save me in the past when I couldnt write to my mbr (long story lol ) Guess I could wipe it clean and try to load again.

At the moment ,I have w2k pro living on it. Maybe I'll try to do an in place upgrade and see what happens.

**Grateful_Dad** · January 12th, 2005, 04:24 PM

try disabling USB 2.0 in the bios - I've had this hang up a XP install
HTH

**jc0033** · January 13th, 2005, 10:00 AM

Well, disabling usb in bios didnt help. I didnt see anything explicitely disabling usb2 only. I was able to run setup for xp from within w2k and I got it installed fine.
This box is dual boot with suse 9.2 pro and xp wont be used very often. suse was a breeze to install. I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of taking the plunge.
Thanks to all who offered suggestions

**ISBB** · January 13th, 2005, 09:06 PM

Correct me if im wrong but if you have a 64 bit processor dont you need a 64bit OS to go w/ it... might have the wrong version of winders xp.. ya know they make a 64bit version...

**rgharper** · January 13th, 2005, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by ISBB

Correct me if im wrong but if you have a 64 bit processor dont you need a 64bit OS to go w/ it... might have the wrong version of winders xp.. ya know they make a 64bit version...

AMD processors support both 32-bit and 64-bit operation; they run Windows XP just fine. I am walking, talking, living proof.