Re: please help me with xp installation

John Novicki Jr wrote:
> "Ben Myers" <ben_myers@charter.net> wrote in message
> news:gkfq1j$k84$1@news.motzarella.org...
>> elodie wrote:
>>> On Jan 10, 12:00 am, Ben Myers <ben_my...@charter.net> wrote:
>>>> elodie wrote:
>>>>> On Jan 9, 12:41 pm, elodie <elodie.gill...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> On Jan 9, 10:29 am, Ben Myers <ben_my...@charter.net>
wrote:
>>>>>>> elodie wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hi everyone,
>>>>>>>> I have a dell pc with windows vista on it. I want to
install windows
>>>>>>>> xp instead.
>>>>>>>> Last night I thought I would use my windows xp
installation disk to
>>>>>>>> wipe out the existing windows vista from the hard
drive, format the
>>>>>>>> hard drive and install windows xp instead. But the
formatting
>>>>>>>> process
>>>>>>>> stopped at 10%. I thought that the formatting was just
taking long
>>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>> went to bed. But this morning the formatting process
was still stuck
>>>>>>>> at 10%. Now when I reboot, all I can do is access the
BIOS. I
>>>>>>>> understand that what I did was not very smart.
>>>>>>>> I would much appreciate it if someone could indicate
what I should
>>>>>>>> do.
>>>>>>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>>>>> Having the computer stuck at 10% while formatting may or
may not be
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> sign that the hard drive is failing.  Here is what I
suggest:
>>>>>>> 1. It is likely that the formatting operation wiped out the
Dell
>>>>>>> diagnostic partition, but maybe it did not.  As a quick
check in hope
>>>>>>> that the diagnostics are still there, power up the system,
press the
>>>>>>> F12
>>>>>>> key and select Dell diagnostics.  If the diagnostics
actually start
>>>>>>> up
>>>>>>> (rather than the system simply hanging), run the hard drive
>>>>>>> diagnostics.
>>>>>>> 2. If the Dell diagnostics do not run, reboot, press F2 to
enter the
>>>>>>> CMOS setup, and determine the manufacturer of the drive. 
Finally,
>>>>>>> download and run the drive manufacturer's free diagnostics.
>>>>>>> 3. If you want to bypass the disk diagnostics, download
COPYWIPE and
>>>>>>> use
>>>>>>> it to wipe the drive clean, and then install XP.
>>>>>>> Google is your friend, not Microsoft's.  Use it to find the
software
>>>>>>> you
>>>>>>> need... Ben Myers
>>>>>> Thanks a lot for the help. I will be following your
instructions.
>>>>> I was able to access the diagnostics. It said that the hard drive
is
>>>>> functionning.
>>>>> So it is not clear to me why I was not able to format the hard
drive
>>>>> using the installation CD of Win XP. Thanks again for the help.
>>>> At this point, I would suggest one of several free bits of utility
>>>> software to surgically remove the Vista partition from your hard drive,
>>>> while leaving the diagnostic partition and maybe a recovery partition
>>>> (?) in place.  Vista partitions are different than XP NTFS partitions,
>>>> and I suspect this to be why the XP format won't work.
>>>>
>>>> Cute Partition Manager and Ranish Partition Manager could probably
>>>> delete the Vista partition, altho Ranish is old enough that it would
not
>>>> identify the Vista partition as such, but rather as some vague (and
very
>>>> large!) partition of unknown type.  Google for one or the other, read
>>>> instructions, and use... Ben Myers
>>> Thanks a lot for all the help. I used a different Windows installation
>>> CD and it worked. That was easy enough. But I am not sure what the
>>> problem was exactly.
>> Just strictly a wild-assed guess, but if your system has a SATA drive and
>> you tried to install Windows XP using a Dell "reinstallation CD" with
only
>> Service Pack 1, this would explain the difficulty.
>>
>> Microsoft acquiesced to SERIOUS pressure from its major OEMs to do
>> something it claims it never does, namely, to add capabilities to a base
>> release with a service pack.  So XP SP2 is the first version of Windows to
>> have built-in support for SATA drives... Ben Myers
>
> So, what you are saying is that the only way to get Windows XP onto a SATA
> drive is with a disc that has SP2 on it?  Reason I am asking, is I am about
> to upgrade the drive in my computer to SATA from PATA (has both
> connections), and wanted to remove the PATA completed.  The copy of windows
> XP that I have is an orginal retail disc with no SPs.  Any suggestions?
>
>
I created SP2 and SP3 versions using a product called AutoStreamer. It's
not a complicated process.

Good luck!
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