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Boot from hard drive windows xp


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#1
hamp012

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Hi

I have just booted from a CD windows XP onto my Dell Latitude D630 and formatted the hard drive , after windows set up I get a message "insufficient memory to initalize windows" I then hit a key and it tells me windows is ready to close down . Any help would be greatly accepted as the computer is usless in this state. Please note I don't know much about the workings of a computer

Tim
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#2
Neil Jones

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This message shouldn't be appearing on an XP Machine. It was common in the days of Windows 95 and 98.

Does your disk have the latest service pack on it? On the disk if it has any service packs it will say "Includes Service Pack 3" or similar.
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#3
hamp012

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it happened when I put 98 into the drive and booted from cd then I out XP in and I have the same problem is there a way I can delete and start again the problem is I have now got an operating system can only get in using bios

I,m not much of a computer expert sorry
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#4
123Runner

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That laptop came with Vista installed.
Is the XP cd a full install cd or are you trying to back the computer down from Vista?
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#5
rshaffer61

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IF you are down grading to XP then you will need the XP drivers from Dell located HERE
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#6
hamp012

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i am unable to use the computer as it keep telling me the memory is full when I boot from the CD
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#7
rshaffer61

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it happened when I put 98 into the drive and booted from cd then I out XP in


Are you saying you booted to a Win98 cd and then tried to install XP?
Is your XP cd a full version or a Upgrade version?
Did you change the boot sequence in the bios to boot to the cdrom first or are you using the prompts during bootup to boot to the cdrom one time?
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#8
hamp012

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hi I am using a full xp pro cd and i booted it from bios at start up ,I first used 98 disc and this also said memory full
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#9
123Runner

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Please take no offense, but we just need to be clear.

You put the CD in the drive and turned the laptop on. It then booted from the CD (you may have responded to "To boot from CD push any key").
It started to load XP and you got the "out of Memory/insufficient memory".

What was the reason for you to re-load the OS? This might give us a clue to proceed.

I believe that when you install an OS a lot of the needed startup items are loaded into ram (memory chips). This could indicate bad memory, bad ram slots, or bad board.
I am tempted to have you test memory. What do you think Rshaffer61?
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#10
rshaffer61

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I am tempted to have you test memory. What do you think Rshaffer61?

:D
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#11
hamp012

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correct in your assumption, the reason for re loading xp was that the original version had admin passwords on that needed taking off
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#12
rshaffer61

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If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:

Posted Image

8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:

Posted Image

10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS

Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.


The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:


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It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.

Posted Image

The following image is the test results area:

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The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.
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