[Gushwa]

Nope,
I did a custom test,
it was getting stuck on the read test,
it wanted digital media,
I thought the operating system cd was digital media,
but I inserted the resource cd,
and the test passed, on both the dvd rom,
and the dvd-rw.
Final, all tests passed.
Yes, I want to do a reformat,
can you tell me how to do that, please.
Thank You

[Advertisements]

Start just as you would for the install using the XP cd.

At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press "Enter".

Press F8 to accept the license agreement.

Select the partition using the arrow keys and press the D key...then press the L key when prompted...to delete the current partition. You'll install to this unpartitioned space after it's formatted.

Choose to format using the NTFS file system...don't use the quick option.

Once the format is complete, Setup should continue to install Windows.

[wannabe1]

Start just as you would for the install using the XP cd.

At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press "Enter".

Press F8 to accept the license agreement.

Select the partition using the arrow keys and press the D key...then press the L key when prompted...to delete the current partition. You'll install to this unpartitioned space after it's formatted.

Choose to format using the NTFS file system...don't use the quick option.

Once the format is complete, Setup should continue to install Windows.

[Gushwa]

That's the thing.
At the point where I press F8 to accept the license agreement,
that's where it blue screens.
I haven't been able to get past that.

[wannabe1]

Do you have floppy drives on both machines?

[Gushwa]

The machine in question does not have a floppy,
but I have a usb floppy drive
that I had hooked up to that machine.

[Gushwa]

I just tried to get into safemode with comand prompt,
thinking fdisk, but it went staight to blue screen

[Gushwa]

This machine has a floppy drive,
but i'm running on safe mode,
another problem not yet dealt with.
I should be able to use the floppy on safe mode,
I think.

[wannabe1]

I wonder if your disk is bad...and I don't think the USB floppy will work for this.

Download RC.ISO and burn it to a cd as an ISO image. You may need a burning toy like ISO Recorder to do this...be sure to get the version for your operating system.

That will give you the utilities needed to format in the same fashion as the XP cd...it does not, however, contain the installation files. See if you can format using that and then try the install using the XP cd. If you are able to format using the rc.iso disk, but you blue screen when you try to install...you may need to get a new XP cd. This should help us determine if that's the case.

If you want to try the floppy drive, you can download the Boot Disk set from Microsoft. This will require 6 floppy disks and contains the same files as the rc.iso disk. You'll need to get the set for the version of Windows you'll be installing (SP1, SP2).

[Gushwa]

I also have an xp pro cd.
but the one that goes to this machine is an xp home,
should I try the xp pro first?

[wannabe1]

You can try it, but don't let it go any further than the format unless you plan on installing XP Pro on the machine. If Pro is already installed on another machine, you will be unable to validate the installation. You will need a valid product key for the installation...in either case. You'll not be asked for the key to format.

[wannabe1]

Time for me to call it a night....I'll check back in the morning to see if you've made any progress.

[Gushwa]

I just tried to load the xp pro,
it started to load drivers in windows setup, then
file\i386\KDCOM.DLL
could not be loaded.
the error code is 14
setup cannot continue.
I have used this same XP pro OS cd with various pc's
with no problem, each had their own XP pro license tag,
but this is a Dell of course.
Although the XP home OS cd that i've been trying to use on this machine,
is the original that came with it,
and it is in perfect condition.

Edited by Gushwa, 17 January 2008 - 01:40 AM.

[Gushwa]

Well, thanks a whole bunch Wannabe1,
reguardless, I really appreciate your help,
GoodNight, Gushwa

[wannabe1]

Try the rc.iso disk.

[Gushwa]

Hello Everybody,

I gave up trying about the same time as Wannabe1, the other night,
it was about 2:30 am, and I was falling asleep.
I have been so frustrated with this computer,
that I haven't even tried to mess with it for three days.
I've also had other priorities, but I finally sat down tonight,
to continue the challenge.

I have ashampoo burning studio,
that can burn an iso image,
so I downloaded rc.iso,
and burned it to dvd with ashampoo.
I placed the dvd in the 3.4, and restarted,
got the usual strike f1 to continue,
then any key to boot from cd.

It enters windows setup, and loads drivers,
but not as many as with the OS cd,
then I get the "welcome to setup" screen,

to setup windows xp now press ENTER,
to repair useing the recovery console press R.
I press ENTER, and I get a screen that says,
"setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer,
setup cannot continue",
it only gives you one option, F3 to quit.

Pressing R for the recovery console,
brings you to the same screen.

Then I tried changeing to the OS cd,
when at the "welcome to setup" screen, and pressed ENTER.
The next screen said the same thing,
"setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer,
setup cannot continue",
but when I use the OS cd from the start,
it goes all the way to the agreement screen.

Reguardless, I ran custom diagnostics on the sata hard drive,
with 5 iterations, all tests passed.

I am thinking of installing an ide hard drive,
and trying to install an OS on that,
unless anyone has any ideas.
I welcome your input. Otherwise,
i'm going to go look for a hard drive upstairs.

Thank You, Gushwa