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Installing Windows XP, whoops doesn't work!

JoeslopJoeslop Registered User regular
edited April 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
So I'm putting together a computer for a friend out of old parts, with a brand new OEM Windows XP disc. Everything works fine, I install it, it reboots. Checks the CD Drive for a boot disc, then goes to the harddrive to load Windows XP.

Oh wait! "Error loading operation system."

This is a brand new harddrive with a brand new copy of Windows XP, what did I miss?

EDIT: I googled for a solution. "Go to the BIOS settings of your machine and change the translation method used to access the hard drive from the default setting “Auto” to “Large” (not LBA, not CHS!)."

The problem with that is, I have to change the Primary Master type from "Auto" to "User Type HDD" in order to choose the "Large" setting.

But when I change to the "User Type HDD", the motherboard doesn't detect the primary master, and thusly can't boot it either.

Joeslop on

Posts

  • JoeslopJoeslop Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Any ideas?

    Joeslop on
  • ElectricTurtleElectricTurtle Seeress WARegistered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Um, chances are it's not the hard drive (or the way the BIOS is looking at it), but without other information we'll go ahead with that. Some BIOSes have an auto-detect hard drive option (this is different from simply having auto in the list) which should pull the specs as far as cylinders and heads and whatnot, so after that information is in the hard drive list, you should be able to change the type to large. If you don't have that option, you'll need to pull out the hard drive, find the cylinders and heads and sectors information and enter that in before you can set the type. If the information isn't printed on the drive (which happens now on new drives because it's almost never needed in modern systems), you can get it from the manufacturer's website deep within whatever specs info they have for that model #.

    However, I doubt this is the problem to begin with. Sometimes it helps to take the drive off of cable select and set it specifically to master (which reminds me, is this PATA/IDE or SATA1-2?). You might also try upgrading the firmware of the BIOS on the motherboard.

    ElectricTurtle on
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  • JoeslopJoeslop Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    It's IDE, and already set on Master.

    Joeslop on
  • ElectricTurtleElectricTurtle Seeress WARegistered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Then try it on cable select. You'd be surprised how wonky that old interface can be sometimes.

    ElectricTurtle on
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  • JoeslopJoeslop Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Nope, didn't work.

    Joeslop on
  • ElectricTurtleElectricTurtle Seeress WARegistered User regular
    edited April 2007
    So did you get the other stuff in the BIOS set? Is the system seeing the HD with that config? Did you update the motherboard BIOS firmware?

    ElectricTurtle on
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  • JoeslopJoeslop Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    I don't know how to update the motherboard without a floppy drive, and choosing "Auto" in the list already has the Cylinders, Head, and Sector set. Changing it to manual lets me change those, but I can't find those specs anywhere.

    EDIT: I guess I'll have to go buy a floppy drive tommorrow so I can flash the BIOS.

    Joeslop on
  • EggyToastEggyToast Jersey CityRegistered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Is the BIOS working now? I can't imagine it's something with the BIOS. I'm almost certain it's just something weird with the HDD. Can you download a small copy of Linux? If Linux can see the HDD and load, you know it's something weird with Windows. If Linux can't see the HDD, it should allow you to format it to FAT, which will at least get the partition table set up. You can then demolish that with an NTFS partition with the WinXP disk.

    EggyToast on
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  • ElectricTurtleElectricTurtle Seeress WARegistered User regular
    edited April 2007
    With the hard drive controller so integrated with the BIOS these days, the chances that it is a firmware problem are larger than they would be with an off board controller.

    Honestly I wonder how much the hard drive can have to do with this, especially with all new parts. He was able to load the windows installer onto the hard drive without errors (which naturally comes after formatting), it just wouldn't boot after that. It has to be a firmware problem or HAL problem (maybe some weird conflict). I've also seen bad RAM generate issues like this.

    ElectricTurtle on
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  • JoeslopJoeslop Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    If it helps, the motherboard is an ASUS A7V8X, the HDD is a WD Caviar, 80 GB.

    Joeslop on
  • BeazleBeazle Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Check your RAM. Memtest86 or if you have two sticks try one at a time.

    Beazle on
  • ElectricTurtleElectricTurtle Seeress WARegistered User regular
    edited April 2007
    lol the A7V... the motherboard that made me stop using ASUS... personally I'd dump that motherboard and get a different one, that's what I did (granted that was the first iteration of the A7V eons ago, but damn if that wasn't a shitty motherboard).

    Anyway, how's that firmware coming? Have you tried getting a bootable hardware diagnostic disk to test the RAM or whatever? (Memory that's good enough to POST isn't always good enough to handle installation, and if there's some corruption it would translate into what's going onto the hard drive.)

    ElectricTurtle on
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