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Problem installing XP on Dell Mini 910
I have ubuntu and want to install XP. I have an external cd rom drive and it goes thru the entire install but when it reached 100% of copying system files it reboots and the same process repeats over and over. If I remove the cdrom drive it says no operating system found.
I took out the hard drive and put it in another Dell Mini 910 I have and it installs with no problems. I also used the same external cd rom and same cd.
What could be preventing my Mini #1 from installing XP?
DELL-Allan D
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September 14th, 2012 21:00
Hello Bayawan,
As you have mentioned that the hard drive of the Mini 910 when inserted in another Mini 910 could install WindowsXP, have you tried booting the computer from that hard drive?
If the Mini 910# 2 boots fine try installing the hard drive to its original computer and check if that boots.
Doing a BIOS default can also be tried.
-- Restart the computer.
-- Keep tapping F2 on the Dell Logo screen.
-- It takes to the BIOS.
-- Press F9 then Press Enter.
-- Once prompted to save and exit, Press F10 then Press Enter.
-- The computer Restarts.
Check the functionality.
Please run a hardware diagnostics to check if there is any hardware failure.
-- Restart the computer.
-- Keep tapping the F12 key on the Dell Logo Screen.
-- From the One time boot menu select Diagnostics and Press Enter.
-- It runs a test on all the hardware components.
You may refer to the link for more details.
http://dell.to/MfUyA9
Please reply the results; I’d be glad to assist you further.
bayawan
64 Posts
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September 15th, 2012 10:00
Yes tried booting into recovery console and the system is still there from when it reached the "100% of copying system files it rebooted" stage. Tried this from recovery console:
c:\>fixmbr
c:\>fixboot
c:\>chkdsk /r
All ran but nothing changed as far as installing XP
Yes tried Diagnostics: results "operating system not found"
Yes tried Bios defaults: results nothing changed as far as installing XP
Downloaded Bios QHA07.exe from Dell website. dell website says "run file" (how do I run the file?)
Made a USB boot thumb drive, yes it boots to a c:\ "prompt"
c:\>dir
volume in drive "c" is usbmemory
volume cerial number is 3c06-2275
directory of c:\ QHA07_~1 exe
Tried this:
c:\>cd\ usbmemory
too many parameters - usbmemory
bayawan
64 Posts
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September 15th, 2012 15:00
Windows 7 installer shows the partitions on the ss drive from my previous attempts to install Windows.
DISK 0 partition 1 3.8Gb system
DISK 0 partition 2 3.1GB
DISK 0 partition 3 230.0MB
I ran chkdsk from a command prompt from Windows 7 repair console and found no problems
I tried to run fixmbr and fixboot but kept getting "not a valid command".
Philip_Yip
7 Technologist
7 Technologist
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16K Posts
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September 15th, 2012 16:00
I just gathered some information together to create a wiki which takes you through the installation of Windows XP. It should work fine but I have only tested it on 1 system. Give it a try and let me know how the install goes.
See A Clean Install of Windows XP from USB (beta).
bayawan
64 Posts
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September 20th, 2012 19:00
OK, I booted from Ubuntu 9.1 -Administration-disk Utility.
This is what Disk Utility shows:
7.7 GB Hard Disk
ATA Stec Pata 8GB
MBR Partition Table
Smart Status;Disk is healthy
DellUtility
49 MB Fat (16-bit version) File System
Partition1 (unknown (0xde))
/dev/sda1
Partition
The attributes of the partition can be edited. The
partition can also be deleted to make room for other data.
Partition Label (blank)
Type Empty (0x00)
Bootable (unchecked)
Delete (box) Revert (box) Apply (box)
Mountable Filesystem
The volume contains a mountable filesystem
Label DellUtility change
OS
7.6GB / 7.1GIB / 7630,487,552 bytes
NTFS File System
Partition 2 (HPFS/NTFS (0x07)
/dev/sda2
Partition
The attributes of the partition can be edited. The
partition can also be deleted to make room for other data.
Partition Label (blank)
Type HPFS/NTFS (0x07)
Bootable (yes)
Delete (box) Revert (greyed out) Apply (greyed out)
Mountable Filesytem
The volume contains a mountable filesystem
Label OS change
_______________
Everything looks ok, so why won't it boot?