Windows XP Clean Install - Stops in the middle....

Question

I have a Dimension 4600i with Pentium 4 at 2.8GHz. It has 1M DDR SDRAM. BIOS is A10. Vintage is May 2004. I have the service tag number too but I thought I saw something that said to not include it.

It was infested with something that kept the CPU at 100% and despite numerous attempts to clean it with help from the Spyware forums folks, it still was messed up. Decided to start from scratch and install Windows XP Home again. Had tried to restore with no joy. Additional history - the computer would not shut down normally. It would hang up and I would have to unplug it, wait, plug it back in and then it would do some more whirring and then shut down.

Following Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows Windows XP Clean Install (Interactive Setup) steps. http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

Works fine until in step 8 when it is supposed to reboot and I get the "Restarting computer..." message but it dies at this point. As noted above, the computer has had this problem for some time and I was hoping the reinstall would fix both problems (CPU and rebooting). So, I unplugged it, waited and powered it up again. It did the automatic IDE config, I hit F1, it went to the GUI, inserted the XP CD, displayed the installing 39 minute message but I have only gotten to the 34 or 35 minutes left mark and it hangs up and goes nowhere (even left on overnight).

Any assistance is appreciated.

mombodog · Answer

'I have only gotten to the 34 or 35 minutes left mark and it hangs up and goes nowhere (even left on overnight).'   http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828267/en-us   'Restart your computer.Setup tries to identify the device that is causing the problem and tries to skip the device on the next restart. You may have to restart your computer multiple times.'   When you restart the PC, be sure NOT to boot from the CD.   Dell's solution http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&dl=false&l=en&s=gen&docid=399A4552DEBE48C7A5A884EE5F6893F3&doclang=en Message Edited by mombodog on 08-21-2008 09:49 AM

mombodog · Answer

You are welcome.   Welcome to DCF.

Deckerdog · Answer

Mombodog, thank you very much.  I will try this when I get back to the machine on Sunday.  Deckerdog

Deckerdog · Answer

I finally managed to get some time to play with this. Unfortunately and as I suspected, my case doesn't work out like the example in the articles and not being a techie (or Greek), I'm not sure what to do with the info from the files.

I did pull the pnplog.txt file and the devices I could extract from them were:

1. USB Universal Host Controller - 24D2

2. Processor to AGP Controller - 2571

3. Processor to I/O Controller - 2570

4. USB Universal Host Controller - 24DE

5. USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 24DD

6. ATA Storage Controllers - 24DB

7. USB Unuiversal Host Controller - 24D7

Didn't have the setupapi.log file and the error file doesn't say much worthwhile. In the setupact.log file, here's an example of one of the last few lines:

#E157 Default installer failed. Error 0xe0000219: the installation failed because a function driver wasa not specified for the device instance

I saw errors in the body of the file but don't know how to save the info to a file since the computer is so hosed (and I have forgotten most of the DOS commands).

I know I have a bad USB board but I just left it in (the ones in the fron do not work). It has been bad for a while and doesn't appear to be a factor in when the computer started acting up. I put in a new board so I could plug in USB devices.

Is this terminal? Should I just shoot the whole thing or drive over it with my F350?? Should I take out everything but the motherboard and try to install? Any guidance is appreciated. Again, I'm not real techie but I can follow directions real good. Please let me know if I need to provide additional information. Thank you. Deckerdog

mombodog · Answer

Yes, I would remove any harware from the motherboard that is not essential to installing XP, see if it will install now.

disconnect any extra optical drives, add in cards, hard drives, card reader, ect.

Disconnect any external devices, only keyboard , monitor and mouse connected.

"I know I have a bad USB board but I just left it in"

most likely the problem.

Deckerdog · Answer

It looks for boot device, none found, I hit F1 to continue, get same message.  F1 to continue, F2 to setup.  Bad motherboard?

mombodog · Answer

Boot device not found, means it cannot find a hard drive that is bootable, not necessarily a bad motherboard.

mombodog · Answer

'I would remove any harware from the motherboard that is not essential to installing XP'   I am thinking the hard drive is essential to installing Xp, don't you?

Deckerdog · Answer

Plugged it in.  Reboot.  Get message 'The file 'asms' on Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 CD is needed.'  The location would be my CD drive but I don't have that plugged in.   Reconnect it?

Deckerdog · Answer

What is the next step?  Plug in the hard drive and reboot?  I disconnected everything as you noted previously.

Deckerdog · Answer

Died when 'Restarting computer...'   Unplugged (the only way to turn it off).  Plugged in again with no CD.  Get the Dell splash screen and progress bar but it stops dead about 25% through.  Stops dead.  Unplug, plug in, same thing.

mombodog · Answer

Yes

Deckerdog · Answer

Sorry to be a meathead but computers aren't my area of expertise.  I figured as much and it is installing now.  I have to hit the road so I will check with my son on the progress and advise how it went.  Thank you.

Deckerdog · Answer

Any suggestions?  Time to throw in the towel?  Appreciate any help.  Thank you.

Windows General

Windows XP Clean Install - Stops in the middle....

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