WinXP - Setup problem

Question

I have a Dimension 9150 system and used it several months with the standard Dell-Xp installation. Now I wan to reinstall XP with my own original XP CD. So I boot from the CD to reinstall the OS. But setup crashes each time with an error message: "Setup hat stopped your computer to prevent damage....illegal operation in pci.sys." ... something like that... This happens when setup copies all the drivers to the HDD just at the beginning of the setup process. All I can do is to reboot my computer, which results in the same error...and so on...

I have no clue what this means nor what I could do to reinstall XP. I have changed the BIOS settings for the HDDs without any effect.

Any ideas? I never had probs like this with my old computer and XP.

PETER345 · Answer

Are you saying that you are using the XP disks that came with the 9100? Have you verified that the disks are good?

If you get the EXACT error message and search Google for it, I suspect you get some useful clues.

Peter

Avant · Answer

One more thing:
I don't have a floppy drive installed on my comp and all the HDDs are connected via S-ATA. Might this be the problem? Normally setup should come up with some kind of error message that no HDDs could be found, no??????

Avant

Avant · Answer

No, I use a copy of XP that I bought earlier (before I bought the 9150).
Google brings up some suggestions to change the BIOS settings for the HDDs. I tried every of those suggestions without any solution for me.

No ideas??
Thanks
Avant

PETER345 · Answer

You will likely need a floppy with the SATA drivers to install Windows. There is a point in the installation when you are given the option to load special HD drivers. The conventional wisdom is the Dell put those drivers on the newer XP disks. It is also possible that some SATA controllers can work in an ATA emulation mode. I reinstalled Windows once and did not need a floppy, but I used the disks that came with my machine.

Peter

Avant · Answer

Just tried it this way '(installed a floppy and downloaded the sata drivers to a diskette) and did the F6 in stallation mode in Win xp setup. No changes. It still crashes at the same moment (the last thing I can read is 'Loading NTSF filesystem', then the bluescreen appears....

dunedin · Answer

Hello Avant :smileyhappy:

Is the XP installation CD you are trying to use only XPSP1?
You'll need Windows XP SP2 to support a PCI-Express graphics card.

If you are using only PCI-Express graphics card, the only choice is to boot from the complete edition of Windows XP SP2.

Make a slipstreamed XPSP2 installation CD. Just follow the instructions. It is not difficult.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

Avant · Answer

GUESS WHAT?? I reply to your post from my freshly installed computer!!! Thanks to your hint (made my own WinXP SP2 CD) everything worked fine. Greetings from Germany... Avant

dunedin · Answer

I`m happy to hear that.:smileyhappy: The slipstreamed CD will be much more useful anyway.  You would not be able to Repair XP, run system file check, or use the Recovery Console without it.

Windows General

WinXP - Setup problem

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