Help Installing OS

[embj]

I have been trying to install an OS on my computer and I can't seem to get it to install. Let me tell you why I have to install an OS first....Well, my Samsung 40gb HDD that had all of my documents on it died 2 Fridays ago (Thankfully I just backed it up) and my main Maxtor 40gb HDD is dying and wouldn't boot into the OS 2 Mondays ago....So the Maxtor still works but, you will hear it banging around.....Both of these drives were barely a year old.

So I got out my old Seagate 4.3gb and threw Windows 2k Pro on it. It was so slow.....and it just kept on getting slower and slower and slower. Then it started giving me BSOD's and kept on restarting automatically. So I got out Partiton Magic (the DOS one) and made the drive so it was unformatted (I also tried formatting it in NTFS). Then I tried to install Win Server 2003, Win XP, and Win Server 2k but, it just kept on giving me BSOD's during the installation of them. The only thing that I could get installed on it was Win NT 4 Terminal Server but, I couldn't use that because there are not any nForce2 drivers that will work on it.

Then I put in my Seagate 3gb HDD in it. It had Win Server 2k3 on it and it wouldn't load it up when I put it in my new rig. Then I put the Win2k3 installation disc in and was going to do a recovery but, I don't know what you do once you get into the recovery thing. I get to the point where it says <C:\Windows>. I don't know what to do from there.

So if any of you guys can offer me assistance it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[sKiT]

Your trying to install an OS on a HDD in machine A and then transfer the HDD to Machine B?

[embj]

No, not exactly. I just tried to install Win Server 2k3 on machine A and transfer it to machine B because it was already on machine A. What I am actually saying is that machine B won't install any of those OS's when I am trying it on that machine.

[sKiT]

How far can you get in the setup stage on machine B?

[embj]

Well, it varies. On Win 2k3 I get to the part after it copies the setup files to the HDD and it will get to like 33 minutes left in the installation where it is a GUI. Sometimes when installing that I can get to right after I configure it for networking.
Then when trying to install Win 2k Pro or Win 2k Server it will come up with a BSOD right when it is still in the DOS screen. It will get past the part where it formats the HDD.

[sKiT]

heh......sure am starting to hear lots of this same thing lateley. There is a couple of other threads concerning the same thing I believe buried in TechIMO....none of which has a definite answer. I will respond as I did in those by saying when that happened to me(I was using Win XP PRO) turned out to be a bad CD. It would freeze the system same place everytime and I even saw non scheduled reboots sometimes during the process. Once I tried another WinXP CD, it installed fine. Other than that I can't say too much except remove all PCI/ISA cards before the install which you prolly know anyways. Try to install with the bare essentials. Wish I could help more Downscale any OC'ing also back to spec.

btw: there were no scratches or obscured parts of the CD....it was just bad at that particular read area I guess.

[embj]

Well, I don't think that could be it. I mean I have tried installing Win 2k Pro, Win 2k Server, Win XP, and Win 2k3 (I have 2 copies of it). I just tried to run a repair on that install on Win2k3 that I was using on another machine and when it was copying setup files it would come up with a BSOD saying "Registry Error." I mean I have tried installing an OS at least 25 times on it and it happens at no avail. I don't have any overclocking going on right now and I have removed all non-essential accessories accept the ones that came w/ my mobo like the SPDIF, game port, firewire, and USB. I even removed my extra HDD (the maxtor that is dying) and my RAID card. I mean I have tried everything that I could think of and nothing works. So I am left w/ no OS and with me being PO'ed because that is my best system. Thanks, neway.

[embj]

Also, how would I explain 2k being sooooo slow? I mean it is running w/ a stock 2600+.

[embj]

Well, I finally got it to the point where it would run the repair and it went through the DOS part where it put all of the files on the hard drive but, it would just sit there when trying to boot saying "Verifying DMI Tables" or something like that. I am not exactly sure what it says because I am not in front of it right now. If this makes any difference I have an Epox 8RDA+. What exactly does the verifying DMI tables mean? I have noticed it on regular boot up but, it never has just sat there before.

[Xaotic]

Have you tried a RAM test yet? I've seen various crashes in installs from bad RAM.