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sonicphobia
05-15-08, 12:06 PM
So, I was trying to install XP SP2 on my friends newly formatted eMachine the other day. Everything goes as normal until after the first reboot, the one after it has copied the install files and should boot up into the install GUI.

It gets to the black XP screen with the 3 blue blocks that go across the progress bar. It hangs in the exact same place there every time. The bars just stop moving and nothing happens no matter how long I wait.

The only thing I've been able to see as a possible problem is no matter what I set the jumper settings on the IDE driver to, it is always seen as the slave in the BIOS. Even though there is only one drive on that channel and a CD drive on the second IDE channel.

Anybody seen this before?

Thanks
owen
05-15-08, 05:33 PM
could be a hardware issue. You could go into the BIOS ad see which order the Boot priority is in. However if its going into the Windows loading page i cant see how the boot priority would affect it.
sonicphobia
05-15-08, 05:48 PM
Yeah, I don't get it either. Its the same hardware it had before when it was working fine. Its just the HDD has been reformatted.

Might try and put Ubuntu on it and see if that will work. I doubt she knows enough about an OS to be married to windows. Just needs to websurf, email, IM, ect.
owen
05-15-08, 05:52 PM
what settings did you use when formatting the HD? Did yuo create a partition or anything?
sonicphobia
05-15-08, 08:20 PM
I deleted the existing partition and then created a new one the size of the driver (minus whatever it automaticly reserves for the file system) I did not use the (quick) option.
sonicphobia
05-18-08, 09:49 PM
UPDATE:

Well, Ubuntu when on like a charm. I was actually suprised how fast it installed and with barely any user input.

Haven't installed Linux sense Mandrake about 6-8 years ago.
Nataku
05-19-08, 01:59 AM
I was going to say run a diagnostic on the drive to make sure it is not on it's way out...But if linux installed just fine then the drive shouldn't be the issue.
sonicphobia
05-19-08, 06:18 PM
I was going to say run a diagnostic on the drive to make sure it is not on it's way out...But if linux installed just fine then the drive shouldn't be the issue.

...and Linux FTW!