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Windows XP Freezes on Startup after Install


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#16
wannabe1

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It would have prompted you to "Skip" a file or to "Try Again".

With temperatures that high, I would suspect that the processor or motherboard may have been damaged by the extreme heat. The motherboard capacitors are particularly vulnerable to this and can be visually inspected to see that that are not showing the obvious signs of damage such as swelling, discoloration, or leaking as shown HERE. You might give them a quick inspection and see if that has any bearing on your problem.

It may also be a boot sector problem which we can try to fix using Recovery Console...providing we can get the machine to boot to the cd.

Boot to the CD. On the Welcome to Setup screen, press the R key to enter Recovery Console. Select the operating system you wish to log on to by number (usually 1) and press "Enter". When prompted for the Admin password, leave it blank and press "Enter".

At the command prompt, type fixboot and press "Enter". At the "Are you sure?" prompt, type Y and press "Enter". Once the boot sector has been written, type exit and press "Enter". Let it try to boot to Windows normally.

Any Change?
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#17
hfcg

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Hello,
Could you try removing the heat sink/fan and apply new thermal grease?
You will want to wipe off the old thermal grease first.
Please go here to learn how to install a heat sink/fan.
Thank you.
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#18
Ztruker

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An error during install halts thew installation process.

That temp you mentioned seems quite high to me. I'm beginning to wonder if XP is right and W2K is wrong and you really do have a heat problem.

Would be a very good idea to open the computer and make sure there is no dust buildup in the PSU vents, fan blades and CPU heat sink. Also make sure all fans are turning.

If all is well, remove the heat sink and fan, clean the CPU and the heat sink and apply a new layer of good thermal paste.
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#19
nailpipe

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As I mentioned earlier, I cleaned about a pound of dust out of my computer, especially the processor fan, it was loaded. The temp is about 50 degrees celsius now, and it no longer overheats when it freezes (heh)...I just wait forever at the Windows XP progress bar screen. After I reset and check the temperature it's still 50 degrees

Windows 2000 runs smooth as silk so i don't suspect too much damage. I am not at my home computer now that's having the problems, but when I get off work in about 3 hours I will check the things you mentioned and we'll go from there.

Thanks for the help everyone.
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#20
hfcg

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If windows 2000 is working fine now,
And the processor was overheating when you installed XP,
Then there may be problems with the XP install.
Why not trying to do a repair with recovery console from your XP disc?
Please go here to learn about the recovery console.
Thank you.
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#21
nailpipe

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It would have prompted you to "Skip" a file or to "Try Again".

With temperatures that high, I would suspect that the processor or motherboard may have been damaged by the extreme heat. The motherboard capacitors are particularly vulnerable to this and can be visually inspected to see that that are not showing the obvious signs of damage such as swelling, discoloration, or leaking as shown HERE. You might give them a quick inspection and see if that has any bearing on your problem.

It may also be a boot sector problem which we can try to fix using Recovery Console...providing we can get the machine to boot to the cd.

Boot to the CD. On the Welcome to Setup screen, press the R key to enter Recovery Console. Select the operating system you wish to log on to by number (usually 1) and press "Enter". When prompted for the Admin password, leave it blank and press "Enter".

At the command prompt, type fixboot and press "Enter". At the "Are you sure?" prompt, type Y and press "Enter". Once the boot sector has been written, type exit and press "Enter". Let it try to boot to Windows normally.

Any Change?


as for this, when I get to the command prompt I choose option 2, which is the D drive (as XP was installed on the D partition) and it says D:\WINDOWS then type fixboot it tells me the target partition is C, would I like to continue, I'm pretty sure thats not what I want to do, so i said no...shouldnt the target be the D drive? How do I change it?
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#22
nailpipe

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When I put the Windows XP cd in just now and clicked "Check System Compatibility" --> "Check my system automatically" it said this:


********************************************************************

Windows XP Upgrade Compatibility

********************************************************************

Windows XP Setup does not support upgrading from Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional to Microsoft Windows XP Professional.
Setup cannot continue.
================================================================================
==

This makes no sense to me since setup actually did continue and installation appeared to work, so there's also that to consider.
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#23
wannabe1

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Did you do a clean install or an upgrade when you installed XP to the D: partition?

The boot sector is at the beginning of the first partition.

Let me take a look at the boot.ini file. Don't edit it, just copy and paste the contents of the file here for me. I haven't used 2000 much so I hope these instructions will get you there.

Right click Start, then click Explore. In the "Tools" menu, click on "Folder Options", then click "View". In the "Advanced Settings" section, click to select the "Show hidden files and folders" check box, click to clear the "Hide protected operation system files (Recommended)" check box, click "Ok", and then click "Ok" again. In the left pane, click to select the %systemroot% (C:), right-click on Boot.ini in the display pane, choose "Open With" and select "Notepad".
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#24
nailpipe

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I did a "New Installation" as that was the only option available.

********************************************************************************
****************

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Setup"

********************************************************************************
****************

That's what it says now, It used to not have the Windows XP Professional Setup but I tried to reinstall it yet again but I quit after it reset and before it started installing. That must be why it still has that option i guess.

Edited by nailpipe, 20 January 2008 - 12:00 AM.

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#25
wannabe1

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Yeah...that's pretty messed up.

This shows systems installed on different partitions of the same drive. Is that correct?

Which operating system do you want as default?
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#26
nailpipe

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My goal was to replace windows 2000 with XP, assuming that it would work fine. We use our C drive (maybe just C partition? I don't know the difference) to run windows primarily and our personal files and such are on the D drive. When I told it to use the C drive to install XP it said "no we recommend you install on a different one since there's already an OS on this drive", then told me to go to some website about "multiboot" and I figured why bother I'll just do what it recommends I do, I don't want to mess anything up. So I told it to install on the D drive...

So to answer the question, I want the C drive to be the default/main drive, so that if anything goes wrong, we don't have to worry about that which is on the D drive. That was the plan anyway.
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#27
wannabe1

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Did XP format when it installed?

Have you looked in the D: partition to see that your data is there?
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#28
nailpipe

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I don't know how i would know if it "formatted" or not.

As for the Windows XP files, I found sounds in D:\Windows\Media that were labeled Windows XP blah.WAV so I guess that's an indicator. Is there some other better way of knowing if it's complete?

Or did you mean our personal files? If so then yes they're all there

Edited by nailpipe, 20 January 2008 - 12:21 AM.

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#29
wannabe1

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I was more concerned about things you may have stored on that drive before the install.

We're going to have to edit the boot.ini...See if you can get to it this way. Right click "My Computer" and choose "Properties". Click the "Advanced" tab. In the "Startup and Recovery" section, click the "Settings" button. Click on the "Edit" button. boot.ini should open.

Can you complete that or is my memory of 2000pro just that...a memory? :)
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#30
nailpipe

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well, kinda.. here's what it looks like:

Startupandrecovery1.jpg

Startupandrecovery2.jpg
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