Windows XP Reinstall, failed miserably

Question

Hello, My computer has always had so many annoying bugs like internet cutting out and skype never working, in the end I bought a 250GB Harddrive with the intention of doing a clean install of windows xp onto that. I managed with help from my brother to install the 2nd harddrive and then installed (using the CD supplied from Dell) the setup files onto my first hard drive which still had my oriignal buggy windows on. Then I just had to restart and on the windows XP setup that now booted up I choose to install on my 2nd hard drive, however it failed straight away saying that a file could not be copied, I retried several times with the same result, and know I am completly stuck. I can't even get rid of the windows Xp setup files off the first hard drive so now whenever I switch on I have to choose to start windows rather than the setup. I phoned Dell software support and they said they could help me.....for £57! I obviously don't want to pay this much for help over the telephone so please help me!

Kanuk001 · Answer

I am a bit confused about the sequence of things. You said you copied the setup files (from Windows XP) to the first drive to install Windows on the second drive?

To properly install Windows on your second drive, you should either ...

1) swap the drives - make your new drive the primary. You can then copy only files you need from the second drive and format it afterwards.

2) Leave the new drive as the secondary. You will not be able to format it afterwards since the boot information will remain on the primary.

3) Dump the old drive, if you think it is bad.

Regardless which you choose, you should install Windows directly from the CD. Do not copy setup files somewhere else and then try to install from there.

jmwills · Answer

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
http://www.djdenham.com/Install%20Procedures.htm#Install

Agreed on a clean install but I would have you make the C partition no larger than 25 gigs max. Thats is plenty of room for your OS and programs and you can create several other partitions out of that monster to place data and backups onto.

Ben_Robson · Answer

Sorry if I confused you, when you put the Windows CD into the PC it says "install windows xp" when you click on that it copies the nessesery setup files to the computer and then when you restart it runs the set up.

Can I still follow those instrucions about makin the CD bootable with the XP disk that I have ?

If so I will follow the steps on that link.

dunedin · Answer

Hello Ben :smileyhappy:

Maybe I`ve got this wrong but it sounds like you have been trying to install XP from within XP. You cannot do that.

You must go into the BIOS and set the boot order to

Floppy

CDROM

Hard drives

SAVE

EXIT

Then put your XP installation disk in the drive and REBOOT.

Watch for message to "Press any key to boot from CD". It is only there for a minute and if you miss it the CD won`t boot.

Set up will then run properly and copy files.

If you get the error again that files cannot be copied, check you RAM

If you have more than one stick of RAM (256MB or more) take one out and try again. If it does not help or makes things worse swap the sticks and try again. This will identify if you have a bad stick.

OR
You can put either of these free programs on a floppy and test the RAM

memtest86
http://www.memtest86.com/

Windows Memory Diagnostic
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

dunedin · Answer

You`re welcome. Good luck :smileyhappy:

Ben_Robson · Answer

Thanks, I will do that now, I don't know why I was so confused, now it all seems quite simple! Ben

dunedin · Answer

Happy to have helped you. :smileyhappy:

Ben_Robson · Answer

Thanks! It worked, i'm typing this out on the new installation of windows, now I just have to start with the reinstalling programs... thanks again, Ben

Windows General

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