Stupid STOP 7B on XP (re)install

The motherboard chipset drivers and device drivers are loaded AFTER Windows is installed.   I'm not sure what sequence you are installing or trying to install, but the correct and required install sequence is (1) Install Windows (2) Install Dell Desktop System Software (3) Install motherboard chipset drivers (4) Install Device Drivers including video, sound, ethernet, etc. 

If it is running Windows Media Center right now, why are you attempting Windows XP Pro 64-bit?  Not saying it wouldn't work. I'd have gone for XP Pro 32-bit.

Media Center has always struck me as being quirky, and since it is running so slowly (likely my fault for overloading the system with junk, but still...) I figured I'd reinstall fresh. I have been told that a 64 bit OS will make better use of my processors and RAM... True?

Thanks for the input.

Fireberd:

Thanks. That gives me somewhere to start the trackdown process... Questions remain from a more-than-novice but not-supremely-advanced techie -

1.) Since the install process from the CD seems very automated, how can/do I initiate a process that will do these steps you suggest without the system moving on to the next (and, it seems, getting BSOD'd)? There doesn't seem to be any method of halting the install process once it has loaded all those drivers from the XP CD BEFORE it automatically kicks into the "Starting Windows."

2.) I'm assuming at this point that once I can get Windows going, I install the Desktop Software and the Motherboard Chipset Drivers from CD? My previous experience with reinstallation has always been that Windows installs itself quite nicely and THEN I set to installing my video drivers, audio drivers, etc. Where I am obviously stumnped now is JUST getting the system to let me install XP, period...

Once I can get Windows to actually begin installing, I am very familiar with reinstalling everything else to get my system going (I seem to end up doing it pretty annually - probably more out of boredom than any real need).

Thanks again for the help and sugegstions.

Tom

Media Center has always struck me as being quirky, and since it is running so slowly (likely my fault for overloading the system with junk, but still...) I figured I'd reinstall fresh. I have been told that a 64 bit OS will make better use of my processors and RAM... True? Thanks for the input.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19052308.aspx

XP doesn't know what a SATA drive is, so you need to give Windows a driver to tell it how to use it.  Not having the correct storage driver (or one at all) can result in Windows telling you nicely that it cannot find any hard drives or rudely by BSOD-ing.  XP also can only pick up drivers externally from floppy, so you will need to either load the driver from a floppy at F6 or use nLiteOS.com to integrate the driver into the installation media.

Your chipset/SATA controller looks to be the nVidia MediaShield.  The driver is below, but it doesn't have the textsetup.oem file, which I thought was required for F6 use.  When you hit F6, it will not immediately ask to load the driver but it will before "Starting Windows".
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R164976&SystemID=XPS_720&servicetag=&os=WXPX&osl=en&deviceid=9711&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=0&libid=41&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=221849

If the above driver doesn't work, you can try this one from nVidia (this is an executable ... you will need to run this on another system to unzip the files, then copy the files in the SATA folder to floppy or nLite from C:\nvidia):
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_winxp64_15.46.html

Alternatively, there is a chance that you can set the SATA controller to ATA/IDE or Compatability Mode in the BIOS (F2).  You can give it a shot, but I wouldn't run your XPS permanently in that mode - it cannot take advantage of the improvements offered by SATA technology, which might not be so important in any less of a machine.

Good luck.

ieee and theflash:

Thanks LOADS for the explicit info. This gives me some rgeat advice and a processs to really nail all the hassle down.

Will implement these and get back ,if only to let you know it worked...

Thanks again!

Tom

Okay, gents - this has given me some playtime the past weekend... I have been able to get past the initial setup on the Windows install disk, it prompts me after F6 to direct it to the floppy (I have attached a USB floppy drive, but ALSO tried nLite, neither of which ahs worked). In both instances, I get to the scsidrv is corrupt. I have searched around for info on this, most of which say it is a bad disk, but, again, chkdsk says the disk is fine.

I went to the disk manufacturer's site to download specific drivers, but it is a Seagate (ST3750630AS) which Seagate claims does NOT requrie a driver, so they don't provide one.

Am going to play around with installing the TEXTMODE and/or another scsidrv file(s) on the floppy or even making another nLite disk. It seems that SOEMWHERE along the line it's got to work...

Tom

I doubt you'll get the USB floppy drive to work for this.

Remember ... XP requires the drivers for the SATA CONTROLLER, not for the actual SATA drive.  The problem is talking to a SATA device through the SATA controller, hence there is no driver that Seagate can provide that would help you - you would need the driver for the controller that the Seagate is attached to, which, according to what I could find on the XPS 720, it should be the controller I listed earlier.

When using nLite, choose Multiple Driver Files and select the folder that you unzip the driver files to, and select all displayed.  Also, you should be using them as TextMode drivers.

Will give it a shot asap. Curious as to why ieee feels the floppy USB wouldn't work?The system recognizes it and seems to access it okay...?

Anyway, off for another day of troubleshooting. Thanks, as usual, for the ideas.

Tom

Unfortunately, before the Vista family of Windows OS's, floppy is the only device that Windows is designed to be able to look for natively, meaning any other device won't work, including USB devices (externals, keys, floppy drives), CD drives, and ZIP drives.

When using nLiteOS.com, you should be selecting Multiple Driver files, select the folder that you expanded the files to then select all that are present, and use TextMode.

If that doesn't work ... have you tried changing your SATA controller to ATA or Compatability mode in the BIOS Setup (F2)?

Updates - Got somewhat further as the Windows setup said that the nVidia driver didn't support x64, and I needed to find that driver. I located the nVidia x64 driver, but it won't fit on a 1.44MB floppy, sio THAT doesn't work. I located a USB Iomega Zip drive but the BIOS doesn't recognize that as a floppy drive. So, I've started working with nLite and tried every combination of XP install disk, driver(s), and Bootable ISO I can think of (based on a site I found suggesting how to use nLite for this issue), but no luck thus far...

Still trying.

Bug Check 0x7B: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

I know you gone through lots but it might be worth checking your hard disk incase there is a problem with it. here is help to do this - http://www.mypchealth.co.uk/GuideTests.php

This is microsofts link on that error message http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff559218(v=VS.85).aspx

If you do have any Firearms handy it would be best to shoot the PC rather than anything else.

I've also got a Pesky XPS 420(4 GB RAM, Quad Core, Blah.....) running VISTA & despite talking to the Dell Techies & scrabbling about like you I can't seem to find any way to 'Downgrade' to XP or Upgrade to Windows 7 without a whole lot of probs.

If anybody else sees this reply I'd appreciate any Steers you have.