Problems with Windows XP install

brainsmith

I have a Dell XPS 630i that I just got a few months ago. It came with Vista 64 bit. Vista is really keeping this PC from performing the way it should so I've been trying to install XP. When I put the XP disk in and boot to it, it runs through the copying files part and when it says starting windows setup or whatever I get a BSD. I've tried this with both 64 bit and 32 bit xp disks. Both disks are fine, with no scratches. I also tried deleting all the partitions with my Vista disk and tried to run the XP setup again, but no luck, still got a BSD. I had no problems reinstalling Vista after that.

I obviously couldn't take a screenshot here, but I took a picture with my camera phone. I didn't get the right side, but I can take another picture this evening if needed:

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb75/BrianTL5/bsd.jpg

Any ideas here?

Skye

Go to the bios setup (f2? on startup). Go to the SATA section, turn on legacy mode/ATA mode; I'm not entirely sure of the exact name, but there's only one option to change so it should be obvious.

brainsmith

Skye wrote: »

Go to the bios setup (f2? on startup). Go to the SATA section, turn on legacy mode/ATA mode; I'm not entirely sure of the exact name, but there's only one option to change so it should be obvious.

Cool, I'll try that tonight when I get home from work. Thanks!

Jubal77

Depending on the bios I have seen the SATA legacy mode cause the CDROM IDE channels to dissapear meaning the CD Drive will not work if it is plugged in via IDE. If you do see that problem you might have to go to a computer that you would have access to the internet and either download the drivers for your HD or slipstream your XP disk up to at least SP2 with nlite.

brainsmith

Ok, my BIOS doesn't have a legacy option. The only hard drive options there are are SATA(SATA 0 is hard drive, SATA 1 is DVD drive) , RAID (turned off), and S.M.A.R.T. (disabled). I'm wondering if this is a SATA driver issue, but would it blue screen? Wouldn't it just not be able to find the hard drive when I start windows setup? I don't have a floppy drive to try this. I can try to find a cheap USB floppy drive after payday if someone thinks this could be the problem.

Skye

In my experiences with Dells, they have all bluescreened at that exact same moment during the windows xp install, and every time I changed some setting in the bios which made it work. It's a pretty common problem (there are a lot of results if you google "Dell windows xp install blue screen". Are there really no other options related to SATA settings? I remember one time, I had to change...ahcp or something like that (I think it started with an "a" at least, and it was an option dealing with SATA drives. If there are really no other options then you would probably need to update the bios, if there's an update. Using a Dell OEM disc might help too (it didn't on one of the computers I tried). Otherwise, you may be stuck with vista/need to upgrade to 7 as their installers are more modern.

Edit: apparently it was ahci? Also, yes this is a driver issue so you could also integrate the right SATA drivers sand it might work. But I am certain that your bios has some sort of legacy/ATA/AHCI setting that you could change to make it work (if your computer is relatively new, then it's probably ATA).

brainsmith

Skye wrote: »

In my experiences with Dells, they have all bluescreened at that exact same moment during the windows xp install, and every time I changed some setting in the bios which made it work. It's a pretty common problem (there are a lot of results if you google "Dell windows xp install blue screen". Are there really no other options related to SATA settings? I remember one time, I had to change...ahcp or something like that (I think it started with an "a" at least, and it was an option dealing with SATA drives. If there are really no other options then you would probably need to update the bios, if there's an update. Using a Dell OEM disc might help too (it didn't on one of the computers I tried). Otherwise, you may be stuck with vista/need to upgrade to 7 as their installers are more modern.

Edit: apparently it was ahci? Also, yes this is a driver issue so you could also integrate the right SATA drivers sand it might work. But I am certain that your bios has some sort of legacy/ATA/AHCI setting that you could change to make it work (if your computer is relatively new, then it's probably ATA).

I'll take another look, but I didn't see any settings like that. I got the PC in feb of this year, so it is pretty new. We bought two, one for me, one for my wife, and they are both the same except for the video cards, and the same thing happened on hers.

I've heard that 7 runs much better than vista so I was thinking about going for it, but I usually like to wait for the first Service pack before I upgrade. I also want to add some more RAM.

Jubal77

To me sounds like typical Dell antics. What CDs are you trying to install from? Are they Dell Branded disks or non Dell branded? It will be a moot point if you have gone in and deleted all of the partition on the HD as dell likes to put a "hidden" partition on the HD for thier disk to check from in order to install properly.

So if you fdisked in and deleted all partitions you might have problems. Your solution is you need to find the Sata drivers to use during the xp setup inititialization. You have to press F2 or F6 when setup is booting and put a floppy in that has the drivers for your HD.

You need the model number of the machine to find these files and they can usually be found on Dells site or on the manufacturers website. Make sure that the file you download has an OEM file along with a few INF files. The OEM file is needed for XP Setup to find the INF drivers and load em up for you.

brainsmith

Yeah, I downloaded the driver, but I don't have a floppy drive. I think I may just add some RAM and stick with Vista for a bit and get windows 7 down the road. Thanks for all the advise.

Jubal77

You could still try to use nLite if you feel like expirementing. nLite has the capability to add drivers to the install disk.