XP pro install gone wrong (WXP-Pro)

[Kansai]

Trying to install XP pro. Formatted drive numerous times (ntfs & fat32). Tried clean install and W98 upgrade still no go. It gets half way through and says the c drive is corrupted and can't be repaired. I have run scan disk and Seatools with a thorough scan ( takes about 3 hrs) and has come up clean. I can load every other operating system on this drive EXCEPT XP. Could my hard drive be corrupt and my diagnostic tools not pick it up? I now have the annoying boot screen at start up. It says do I want to continue with xp set up ( which freezes the computer with a lovely blue screen) or do I want to cancel xp set up (in which case it starts win98). I can't get into xp to remove the boot screen. Should I buy a new hard drive (which I can't really afford right now) or is there something wrong that I don't know about. I have installed xp home on my laptop without a glitch so it can't be me.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Kansai

[BertImmenschuh]

As long as nothing on the drive has to be saved, I use a Win98 boot floppy and run fdisk to delete any and all partitions, reboot and either recreate them or if the computer will boot to the CD, put the WinXP CD in and boot to it, let WinXP configure the drive and format and install.

If 2 partitions are desired I use the Win98 fdisk to create them. WinXP will prompt about whether to change anything.

A method I've used to kill WinXP and Win2000 when a dual-boot goes awry is to boot to the floppy for the version of Win98 or WinME and at the A: prompt type fdisk /mbr, reboot to the floppy and type sys c:, remove the floppy and boot to the hard drive.

If the drive/partition is formatted NTFS, Win9x/ME can't 'see'/work with it.

If things get really bad, the SeaTools should have a low-level format choice in it, may be 'write zeroes'.

WinXP can't create FAT32 partitions over 32GB but can install on/work with them just fine.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue> <font color=green>Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.</font color=green>

[monkey_1]

-Maybe the motherboard: try updating the BIOS...

-What does the lovely blue screen (exactly) tells you (five lines after the STOP message -inclusive-)?


<font color=orange>Mono</font color=orange>

[Kansai]

As long as nothing on the drive has to be saved, I use a Win98 boot floppy and run fdisk to delete any and all partitions, reboot and either recreate them or if the computer will boot to the CD, put the WinXP CD in and boot to it, let WinXP configure the drive and format and install.
Yes I did that exactly. I let winxp format to NTFS which it did. Then tried to load xp. Half way through it said the corrupt c: stuff and went back into the format routine. There it stayed in a continuous loop, without touching anything. I had to hard shut down.

If the drive/partition is formatted NTFS, Win9x/ME can't 'see'/work with it.
That could be why it didn't recognise it.

WinXP can't create FAT32 partitions over 32GB but can install on/work with them just fine.
Interesting. I tried to create a fat32 partition of 38GB. That's why it didn't work. But I also used partition magic (which I have been using for years) to partion the whole drive as NTFS, then booted to cd and got the continuous loop.

Have just downloaded new seatools v3.0 and will recheck. I also partitioned another drive to NTFS and loaded xp to check the installation disk. Loaded perfectly. As you can gather, I have had quite a few shots at this. I am going to run my killdisk floppy over it and try again. If it doesn't work its going to get a dose of hydrochloric acid.
Thanks for your quick reply, appreciated muchly.
Kansai

[BertImmenschuh]

You're welcome, glad to help. Let us know the final outcome.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue> <font color=green>Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.</font color=green>

[Kansai]

Tried updating the bios with aflash. Two problems I got was at option 2, it says Update BIOS without Boot Block and ESCD, when it should say Update BIOS including Boot Block and ESCD. I still went ahead with option 2, but when I pointed to the floppy with the updated bios file (Av133m05.awd), it didn't recognise it and therefore didn't update it. Did I do something wrong?

I had to reassemble the piece of paper with the error messages on it because it went through the shredder. Sorry for taking so long, but its a really good shredder.
stop 0x0ED, 0x8137EBB8, 0xc0000185, 0x000000, 0x000000.
Which would probably correlate to the "Unmountable Boot Volume" error message I got in XP.
Thanks for your quick response. Appreciate it.
Kansai

[Kansai]

Smee again. Ran killdisk to wipe the drive. Fdisk and format as usual. Boot to cd to load xp and.....and......and........nothing. This is what I got:
An error occurred while setup was updating partition information on: 38163Mb Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi (MBR). Setup cannot continue. To quit setup press F3. Well, don't that tear the crutch out of your best undies.
I also ran the latest Seatools on this drive and it passed all tests. Obviously its not the drive. Could it be the BIOS or the MBR?
I have now noticed the following at boot:
&lt;BIOS:&gt; BIOS UPDATE INCORRECT. CPUID=0000068A. UPDATE NOT LOADED. I didn't do this but I suspect the previous owner may have had a shot at it, I didn't really notice it before. Also, the downloaded BIOS update file is 1007c.awd. It is a fax viewer file. Shouldn't these files be a .BIN file? Maybe that's why it won't update because it doesn't recognise the file? Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Kansai

[BertImmenschuh]

Would you kindly post the make and model of your motherboard? Usually silk-screened on the board but may be only the model number and revision number.

The file could be correct or it may have the wrong extension. Programmers can use any extension they wish as long as the executable part recognizes it.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue> <font color=green>Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.</font color=green>

[Kansai]

I have updated the BIOS successfully. I tranferred the drive to another computer and it loaded XP OK. Didn't boot when I put it back. Frustration has got the better of me. I have lost 3 days of my life with this problem. I have installed WIN98 and all the associated stuff that goes with it. It runs like a dream. I can't afford to waste any more time on this so to all you good people who have donated their valuable time and expertise I thank you very much.
Kansai