Problems installing Windows XP?? (1 Viewer)

[JustinT]

I am trying to upgrade Windows 98 Second Edition to Windows XP Profesional. About halfway through the installation, right as it is beginning to install the Windows files, I get a blue screen error message. The message says something along the lines of "your C: drive is corrupted and Windows will not be installed."

I've probably tried to install XP about 6 times by now. After one attempt I got an error message "missing < windows root > system32hal.dll" but I am not getting this message anymore.

I ran scandisk on my entire drive and defragmented (took an entire day, its a brand new 60GB drive) and had no errors on the drive.

Has anybody else had problems installing XP? Any ideas on what I can do to get it working? Here is a list of my hardware:

P4 1.7 GHz

256 MB SDRAM

Nvidia GForce 2 GTS 32 MB

IBM 60 GB hard drive

Generic 56x CD-Rom

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

Couple questions....

Do you have your hard drive partitioned into at least two sections? If so can you move everything you don't want to lose onto the second drive partition?

The reason I ask is that the best way to install ANY operating system is to do a complete install from scratch and blank out the entire drive partition you are installing the operating system on. (You should be given this option at the very beginning of the install process). Actually.....go into your BIOS and see if you can boot the computer from the CD. There should be a couple options... boot from A drive is usually first, then boot from hard drive. Change the A drive to boot from CD.....then boot from hard drive. Have the XP disk in the CD drive when you boot up and it will boot from the CD and you can install from there.

This is what I did and the XP install and subsequent operation of XP could not be more stable.

Before all of the above......I moved everything off my C drive onto other partitions that I wanted to save. (I even made backup CD copies of the things I really did not want to miss). Also, there is a function on the windows XP disk you can access (before installing the operating system), called user state migration tool. You can use it to create an image file of all your settings, dektop pictures, etc.....and after you blank out the C drive, install windows from scratch and are up and running, you can go back to the image file and restore you settings from there.......it will look like you never changed an thing, but are running under the much more stable XP.

Make sure though that you install onto and wipe only the C drive partition, otherwise the other partitions will be blanked as well. If you pay attention and make sure it is installing and wiping the C drive only, the other partitions will not be touched. If you can install this way, you don't have to worry about defragmenting or scan disk, etc...because you are blanking the hard drive and wiping it clean so none of that stuff will matter when you start from scratch. Just like new.

 

[Rob Varto]

Brian, can you have it boot from the CD even if XP is only the upgrade version? In other words, do you want to go into Win 98 just like normal, insert the XP ugrade disk in the CD drive and follow the instructions?

Or..

Should you insert the Win 98 bootup disk in, format the drives and then re-arrange the BIOS bootup to read the XP cd? If it's only the upgrade version, will it install without having a full copy of Win 98 first?

For the record, Im having this SAME problem right now!! This thread could be a huge help for a lot of people.

 

[brentl]

The obvious thing would be to make sure no other software is running during installation.

It seems weird that it took that long to defrag. I've got 15G and it takes me around an hour!

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

Rob,

Yes you can have it boot from the CD. Actually the upgrade version and the full version Cds are basically the same. The upgrade versions just ask for conformation of sorts from the previous version during install.

Therefore.....you can boot from the CD with the upgrade version (have the old windows version ready to use as well)......change BIOS to boot from CD.......boot from CD.......it will look like you are in DOS or something......pick the partition to install on and wipe clean......let XP install and follow the instructions. It will most likely ask for the previous Windows version at some point.

I have a friend who is on the XP development team with microsoft and have invited him to participate in the discussion. He is very busy, but hopefully he will have a few minutes to drop by and help us all out.

So....perhaps wait a little before you do anything and maybe he will stop by later today or tomorrow. I am sure his explainations of things will be much more clear since he is the man with XP and micorsoft things.

It is really incredible how when he helps me with things....the solution always seems so simple. I have learned a lot from him.

But to recap......upgrading the operating system will not necessarily fix problems a computer was having before hand. The operating system is so vital to the smooth running of a computer that one really should do a clean install of the operating system on a blank partition to have the most stable setup. This will ensure that everything is where it should be and XP will run as stable as it is advertised.

 

[Rob Varto]

Brian, thanks!

One more thing maybe you or your friend can answer. When I did try to upgrade I came to a section which asked me: what partition I would like to install XP on. So I chose the C: drive (naturally). When I did this, it responded with "you already have an OS on this drive and installing XP may cause the other OS to run improperly". Is this a normal thing?? Shouldn't XP have recognized the Win 98 OS?

Im assuming that I should re-format my drive and then do the BIOS thing with the CD loaded first, correct? Do I even need to worry about a boot up disk if I boot from the CD (probably a dumb question but I know the bootup disk installs some files - not sure what they are though)?

 

[JustinT]

Brian, I only have one partition on my harddrive, so I'd like to stay away from wiping it clean. I might just wait a few days for your friend to give us some tips. Thanks for your replys.

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

Justin...is your drive a 60GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP? Apparently they all got recalled because they all died prematurely. Hopefully this is also not contributing to your install problems as well. The drive data under Xp has to be reformatted to the NT file setting (which is different than the FAT32 stuff windows 98 used).

 

[Thom B]

Rob,
Setup sees the win98 install and is letting you know that installing two os' to the same drive is a bad idea. If you choose not to format the drive you'll end up with two windows dir's on the c drive, and all kinds of unpleasant hilarity will ensue. The short of it is, yes do the boot from cd installation. During the install it will ask you which drive you want to install to, then warn you that there is already a windows installation there, then on the next screen, ask if you want to format the drive or keep the existing file system. Select Format NTFS and continue with the install.
Justin,
Are you using drive overlay software? The errors you're seeing can be caused by this. (See MS KB article Q315679) To be honest I wouldn't expect this to be the case, as new as your system is, but it's worth looking into.
Brian,
Actually XP will do FAT32 or NTFS. The latter is defintely the preferred file system. The only reason to retain FAT32 is if you need to dual boot to an os which can't read NTFS, such as DOS or 9x.
T

 

[Curtis Koenig]

Hi guys,
Brian asked me to stop in and take a look at what is going on and offer some guidance.
[Justin]
Sounds to me like you have some serious drive corruption. You might be able to fix this with scandisk and defrag, but no guarantee.
As Brian has suggested the best thing to do is clean install.
If you have a CD burner or seperate partition use the user state migration tool to transfer your files and settings.
Here are some helpful KB articles:
Q304903 List of Programs Whose Settings Are Migrated
Q293118 HOW TO: How to Use Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
Q306186 How to Use Files and Settings Transfer Wizard from CD-ROM
You can then burn or store the resulting file and restore it when you are done installing.
There are actually 3 ways to install clean. One is to format the drive and run the install, as thought the HD were brand new. This will ask for a qualifying product (i.e. insert the CD of 98 at some point).
The second way is what has already been mentioned a bit. Put the CD in and start the install and it will warn you that windows is already there. At this point you have 2 choices that make up the other install options.
1) On the format screen choose format NTFS (or FAT32) full. This will wipe out all data present and leave you with only what Windows installs. It will not ask for the product as it will detect the previous version as installed and being wiped out (but I would have the disk on hand just in case, if the install is corrupted it will not see the previous Windows version).
2) Get the warning about a previous version, but do not format. There should be an option for leave the current format. This will then give you the option to install into the Windows directory or another directory. If you install to the Windows directory it will warn you about possible data loss (so if you have not backed up your data it will be gone if it is in the windows directory). This is still a clean install as all previous windows files and registry information will be lost. The Program Files directory will also be overwritten and you may lose any data stored there as well.
All of these installs are considered "clean" and will require the reinstallation of all software. The key is to back up all your data to a safe place (a CD, partition or directory that is not touched).
This should give you all some options as to what you can do. If what I have said is not clear or you need some more info just ask.

 

[Rob Varto]

Curtis,

Can I ask you something?

One of my attempts to load XP resulted in a screen that stated something along these lines: "Some of hardware is incompatible with Windows XP. If this is the first time you are seeing this screen, please reboot. If this is more than the first time, you may do one of the following: remove teh devices causing the conflict, boot in safe mode and uninstall the hardware..." Anyways, I don't remember all the verbage but the bottom line was that the OS didn't recognize some hardware (my sound card and NIC card) so it wouldn't proceed. I can't imagine that XP HAS to recognize all hardware to successfully install, but I could be wrong. What do you think? Thanks!!!

 

[Curtis Koenig]

During an upgrade we attempt to recognize all hardware so that it works when you get there. But no this does not stop the install.

However, if the hardware has a bad driver, fails or causes a blue screen; that does stop install as the driver or whatever is crashing the install. 99% of the time this is a bad device driver. I suggest following the instructions on the screen and noting them in full in order to get the most out of the error.

 

[Randy_T]

A clean install is always the best way to go. Make sure all your important files are backed up on floppy or cd. Search the web for current drivers. Some of your hardware may need the current XP drivers. You should also set-up 2 partitions on your 60GB hard drive. One for the OS,swapfile,and apps that you will ALWAYS have on your computer, and one for other apps (internet downloads,games,& data). 10Gb for the C: drive & 50GB for the D: drive should be good. Also, be sure to check for updates to any games or programs that you use. XP can cause some programs to crash or not run at all. What anti-virus software are you using? If your using Norton, you will need the 2001 version to work with XP. I found a FREE anti-virus program that works great with XP. I can send you the link, if your intrested.

Randy T