Trouble w/XP install!

[fitz58]

Yes,yet another person w/an install problem.First some background info:
1.System info: A7V8X
AMD Athlon 1800+Thoroughbread
896mb DDR pc-2100 generic
Primary HD IBM DTLA 46gig 72000rpmFat32
Slave HD WD1200JB 111gig 72000rpmFat32
Plextor CD-R PX-W14012A
Video Card Winfast A280 le TI-4200 MyVivo
Monitor Mag 986FS 19" dp.21
2.I have had Winxp installed on this system before,I also had installed the latest SP1 upgrade for some reason or another I had lost access to some admin control functions,so I went to repair the XP installation and at the piont of installing devices it just froze up on me (about the piont of 34min left on installing windows progress screen).Yes I waited a considerable amount of time,and restarted many times to no avail(same piont of freeze).
3.I have used many different XP pro discs and even tried different HD's .I've built and installed XP on 18 computers so far with very little difficulty,but my own system right now is giving me the worst time I've ever had .I'm currently running Win98SE.
4.Not computer illiterate yet not a true expert ,and not unfamilair with BIOS settings (have tried many configs,no different results).
Well if there is any one out there that has any new ideas please HELP (I've read many threads here concerning this problem no solutions found).Ive heard of trying the F7 key hit when prompted to hit F6 in the set screen ,but at this piont a little apprehensive to try it.Please HELP!!!


PS:My Motto is if it aint broke tweak it.

[M_Six]

Try removing all but one stick of RAM. I've had trouble installing XP in machines with more than one stick. After it installs, you can put the RAM back.

[Lemon]

Just a thought but I see you are using generic RAM. Perhaps the RAM is not up to running WinXP.

[fitz58]

Thank you both foryour replies,i will try removing 2 sticks leaving the 512mb 1 in.And as to not being up to running XP as I stated I had been running it before,with no problem.Well thankyou much again anyone else have anything at all its really welcome,and if theres anyway you can think of (other than monatary)I can show my appreciation let me know.

I agree with trying a single stick of RAM - the smaller the better (128MB minimum). Then if install goes ahead you should be able to put all the other sticks back.

Windoze if very finicky about RAM on install because it uses RAM more intensively than it does in use. The same RAM which causes lockups on install should work fine after install.

It's a windoze thing.

Cheers
Mick

Hey fitz, just mention TechIMO to your friends when they need any help.

And, if you are keen for some fun, how about running a distributed computing project for TechIMO? (Like FAD! )

Hope it loads for ya. If it doesn't, come back, and we'll try a few more things.

Cheers
Mick

[fitz58]

No progress yet,tried the 1 stick trick(1st w/512mb,then 128mb), then tried hitting F7 when prompted to hit F6,all with no different results.It always freezes at installing devices(about 36min mark,and just after screen goes black then comes back).
Micwish I would be glad to run the Dist.Comp.Project.My wife and I are active members in the Relay for Life Cancer cure program here in NJ and have been committee members for 6yrs.
I have DSL and up till now a pretty good system to run apps on,was ripping DVD's onto CD's until I couldn't leave well enough alone.
Any other Ideas appreciated!!HELLLPP!!

[M_Six]

Strip the machine down to the basics. One HD, one CDROM, simple vid card. No sound card, no modem, no NIC, no other extras. If you use a USB mouse or keyboard, find a PS/2 version of both. Go as simple as possible.

[ChrisK2972]

fitz58,

I know what you are going through. I have had the same problem before. I mean, one day you are running XP fine; next day you decide to format and reinstall and all hell breaks loose.

Here is a link to a post at another site. There are several links within the three/four post in the thread. Follow them all. There is a link that takes you to Broadband.com (something like that) that says "Win2K setup." Read it. It is actually an XP problem.

Here is the first link:

http://www.compucheap.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/006587.html

Hope these help. Me personally, I gave up. Put Win 2000 Pro on my machine. I cannot afford to replace good ram, hardrives, motherboards, ect, just to get a finicky POS to run on a machine it had no trouble with yesterday.... feel the saracsm.... LOL

[HaTe_M$]

Am having exactly the same problem - installing on a brand new HDD, gets to the Installing Devices stage, (normally showing the "Your computer will be faster and more reliable" info screen.. ironic huh?) and it just stops responding - thought i'd install 98 and try n install over that but my damn startup disk is corrupt, so i cant load with CD support O.o
I initially thought it was a USB device problem cuz I left my webcam plugged in without noticing, but i unplugged all USB stuff and gettin the same problem, about to try disconnecting all ram cept one chip as a last ditch attempt even tho it didnt work then.. its sort of annoying, because my new motherboard didnt work either, so i got my old crappy one in ...
I tried installing on FAT, FAT32 and NTFS, all had the same problem, had XP on this system fine before, never had a problem - only new thing on here is my HDD. Last time I installed I WAS using a PCI graphics card, and then put my sexy ass AGP MX400 one in after.. might try putting that in too, cept it took about 6 attempts to get the AGP card to register O.o... any suggestions would be appreciated tons, tried everything i can think of though.. and im not too inexperienced.. aaaaah im so damn lost