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120936
August 21st, 2008 06:00
System setup is stuck at "searching for previous versions"
So my friends computer had a problem where it wouldn't load past the windows xp screen. I decided to just try and install a new version of windows on the computer. I've done the process before and know how to do it. I put the disc in and boot it up. When it gets to the part where I want to delete the old version, the setup gets stuck at "searching for previous versions of microsoft windows". I know that something went wrong with the old version, and that's why it wouldn't boot in the first place. I'm guessing that something happened to it that would now cause the setup to not be able to detect the old version. I hope I'm explaining this right...
Well is there anyway to help this thing detect the previous windows so i can delete it, or is this computer just broken beyond repair. Also, would there be an easier fix to a laptop going blank after the windows xp screen, rather than installing a new windows?
ignor.ant
8 Posts
0
August 21st, 2008 13:00
Boot it from a non-windows disc and format drive or repartition disc to suit your needs.
Hiren's Boot CD is good for all troubleshooting and low-level testing/repairs, just google for it.
RoHe
12 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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172.6K Points
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August 21st, 2008 23:00
Always include the PC model in your posts! ;)
Reboot and press F8 before XP starts to load. Choose 'Last known good' from the menu. If that gets you to the desktop, shut down normally and reboot normally.
If not, go back to the F8 menu and see if you can boot in Safe Mode.
Ron
Jeremiah230
2 Posts
0
August 24th, 2008 05:00
It's an inspiron b130.
I went to the menu with F8, and after trying the last known good config it just went to a blank screen and stayed there. With safe mode all these files were listed but nothing else happened (I've never used safe mode before, but it didn't go anywhere for at least 5 mintutes after the list of files came up).
I tried searching for Hiren's Boot CD, but everyone is linking it to rapidshare which doesn't have it anymore.
OrdinaryMAN
112 Posts
0
August 24th, 2008 06:00
Hey Jeremiah, here's what you need to do. First off it sounds like there isn't anything important data wise on the system or else your first step wouldn't have been to wipe everything and reinstall. So with that being said, to "clean" the hard drive so you can reinstall windows you wanna do a debug of the hard drive. This will completely wipe anything that's on the hard drive. To do this you are going to need the resource cd that came with the system. Boot to it and then instead of going to the diagnostics there should be an option for DOS or freeDOS something like that. Anyway once you have your command prompt type in DEBUG and it enter. Then follow this script. Everything in bold is what you type in.What's not in bold is what the system gives. X's are variabls.
-F 200 L1000 0 (ENTER)
-A CS:100 (ENTER)
xxxx:0100 MOV AX,301 (ENTER)
xxxx:0103 MOV BX,200 (ENTER)
xxxx:0106 MOV CX,1 (ENTER)
xxxx:0109 MOV DX,80 (ENTER) <-- "80" for hd 0, "81" for hd 1 >
xxxx:010C INT 13 (ENTER)
xxxx:010E INT 20 (ENTER)
xxxx:0110 (ENTER) <---BLANK LINE - IMPORTANT! >
-G (ENTER)
Program terminated normally
-(CTRL)-(ALT)-(DEL)
Then once this is completed go ahead and boot to your windows disc and install windows like you normally would.
RoHe
12 Elder
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August 24th, 2008 22:00
Aside from mouse and keyboard are any other USB devices connected?
Boot from XP CD and press R at first screen to launch Recovery Console.
At C: prompt, type in:
chkdsk C: /p /r
press Enter
(Go take a nap!)
When it's done, remove XP CD, and reboot normally. If that doesn't fix it, try running the reinstall again.
Ron