Setup in reboot loop on a Dimension 8300

Question

Hi,   when I'm trying to install Vista 5384.4 on my Dimension 8300, setup is booting from DVD, loading it's initial setup files. Then I see the setup-wallpaper and my mouse cursor. For about 15-20 seconds I'm able to move my mouse, then it's stuck (at this moment I'm also not able to toggle num lock for example, so the keyboards dead, too). After about another 15 seconds of freezing, the system simply reboots.   Has anybody experienced the same problem and/or does have any suggestion? Might it be a problem with my Fasttrak S150 TX2 controller? I'm using a stripeset of 2 250 GB-drives as RAID0. But setup freezes/reboots already before I would be able to try installing an additional RAID driver :(   Thanks in advance for hints and kind regards Benjamin

rollainm · Answer

I'm having this problem, too. So all you did was press the power button once and it unfroze? I tried that. Didn't do anything.

AlienBen · Answer

Hi,

I've tried that before and it did not work. I had the same phenomenon as with booting directly from the dvd. When I started setup from XP, it copied and deflated the files, rebooted and got in it's loop then.

BUT: nevertheless I tried again... and that was a good idea. When starting setup from XP, it asked again if it should check the Internet for setup updates. I said 'yes' and indeed, he downloaded a small update now (he did not last time)... only about 130 KB if I got it right... went very quickly. And here we go: after rebooting, there was no loop, he correctly continued setup... and I'm writing this Reply now from a fine working vista :)

So thanks a lot for your hint (which directly did not help, but made me try again *g*)!

@ rollainm: so you also might consider to start setup from an existing XP-installation and let setup check for updates. Worked fine for me :)

Best regards
Benjamin

SomeoneYouKnow · Answer

Huhm, that's strange!   I've installed on a primary partition, but afaik it does not matter, which type of partition you choose... should also work with a local one.

rollainm · Answer

Thanks, but I've done that, too. Not I get an error message on reboot that the installation was unsuccessful. Are you guys installing on a primary or logical partition?

rollainm · Answer

Still no luck. I'm downloading again to see if it's just a corrupt file causing the problem.   Don't think so, though. I've got a sneaking suspicion it's something hardware related.

jimSON_GR · Answer

Hi,   don't you guys need to install a driver for the Fasttrak S150 TX2 controller especially for Vista?   Its the only device that the Vista Upgrade Advisor tells me i need to install manually and according to it, the drivers exists!!! I wanted to install the Vista Beta 2 (5384) release, but couldn't find any drivers for the controller, so I didn't.   I thought they are necessary... aren't they?   Thanks in advance.. jimmy

SomeoneYouKnow · Answer

Hi Jimmy,   I wonderered about that, too! On the promise website there are none.   Even setup - when started from XP - prompts a msgbox with a warning, that it has no driver for the Fasttrak S150 TX2 and that it probably won't be able to boot the system. I've continued anyway and it worked just fine.   So I'd say: just ignore it, my S150 TX2 with RAID0 makes no probs   Regards Benjamin

SomeoneYouKnow · Answer

So you have Windows XP on C:\ and your data on D:\ for example? I think it should be no problem when you install Vista on D:\.   But to be sure, you could resize your partitions with Partition Magic to get a new, free one....and use that for Vista. That would also be the easiest way if you decide, you want get rid of Vista again. But keep in mind, that Vista itself uses quite a lot of disk space. On my two PCs between 8 and 9 GB each.   Either way, I'd recommend to back up at least your most essential data... you never know :)   Bye Benjamin

jimSON_GR · Answer

Thanks Benjamin for your fast response.

I'll try it this weekend.

But one more thing.
I've splitted my HD in 2 partition with Partition Magic 8. On the second one I have all my personal data. If I try to install Vista through Windows XP, will I loose my files on the 2nd partition too?

Regards
Jimmy

jimSON_GR · Answer

Thanks again Benjamin.

I've searched a little around the internet about the dual booting with Vista and XP and it seems that many people have some issues with it (not able to boot to XP and so forth...)

Did you encounter any problems?

Anyway,
I'm going to create a third partition, like you said and install Vista there.

-
Jimmy.

BPHusker · Answer

I have an External 300GB drive and was wondering if I could install Vista onto that so it won't interfere with my XP install on the C drive.  Is it possible to boot to the USB Hard Drive, if/when Vista is installed?

jimSON_GR · Answer

Got mine working too. Everything works how it supposed to.

Did the following:

1. Created a new partition (60GB, Primary, NTFS). My HD's look like this (on Promise FastTrak S150 TX2 Controller, RAID 0 - 2 x 250GB):
C:[WinXP PRO SP2] - Primary *ACTIVE
V:[WinVISTA 5384.4] - Primary -NEW
H:[DATA] - Primary

2. Started the setup from Windows XP and let it download the updates (130KB, 1 update). No external drivers for the controller were needed!

3. Chose custom installation, selected drive V: and let it do his thing. Thats it.

4. No action or trick was needed during the setup, to prevent the system from hanging\crashing.

It froze a couple of times during the installation/reboot/loadin process (for 1-2 minutes), but thought this was normal.

Dual booting with XP works fine!

Best regards
Jimmy

Message Edited by jimSON_GR on 06-13-200607:34 PM

rollainm · Answer

Patin Couffin, You are a friggin genius! I did what you did, and not only did Vista install without a hitch, it went SO much faster.

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