Start a Conversation
UNSOLVED

LucasBB

updated

19 years ago

L

LucasBB

8 Posts

0

3240

August 29th, 2007 11:00

Cannot install any WIndows version

Hi all, I have a Dell Dimension E520 with WinXP home. I need another OS to be installed, so i tried installing WinXP Professional, but unfortunately i keep getting the famous blue screen saying that an error has occurred and the system is shutting down to prevent damage. This happens during the stage when the system components are being verified. I also tried to install Windows 2000, but i got the same blue screen during the installation. After all of that i tried to install Win98, and it hanged with empty black screen during the installation. I can't find any clue about what kind of problem my machine has. My current WinXp home is working just fine.

Machine Specifications: Dell Dimension E520, Pentium D 3.4Ghz, 1G RAM, Motherboard P965, Integrated Intel GPU, WinXP Home.

Any help is highly appreciated.
  • J

    jackshack

    6447 Posts

    176

    0

    Posted August 29th, 2007 13:00

    The E520 uses SATA drives.  In order to use Win XP you need to have the SATA RAID drivers on a floppy to be inserted at the beginning of the installation process, or slipstream the drivers into a Win XP installation CD.  Alternatively, you can enter setup (F2 on a restart at the Dell splash screen), scroll to the drive controller, and set the bios for RAID Autodetect/ATA.  This last puts the controller in IDE emulation mode and should allow you to install Win XP without the driver disk.  If you are not using RAID this last suggestion should save you a lot of grief and will not introduce any penalty if you are not using RAID.
     
  • M

    mombodog

    2 Intern

    •

    12735 Posts

    176

    0

    Posted August 29th, 2007 14:00

    Use the ATA method suggested above.
     
    You will need an XPSP2 CD to install XP on that new hardware.
     
    order your drivers need to be installed once you are at the desktop in Windows.
     


    Message Edited by mombodog on 08-29-2007 10:44 AM
  • L

    LucasBB

    8 Posts

    176

    0

    Posted September 8th, 2007 06:00

    Thanks guys. I just tried this yesterdy. I disabled RAID from BIOS and i was able to install WinXP Proff. However, now i can only access the newly installed windows. In order to access my old one, i have to enable RAID again. Is there a way to make them both listed when the machine boots? Thanks.
  • M

    mombodog

    2 Intern

    •

    12735 Posts

    176

    0

    Posted September 8th, 2007 13:00

    You can get them both on the boot loader screen, but unfortuntely you will still have to change the raid setting to boot into Vista.
     
    Both of those settings require different drivers to load the OS, so if you do not change the setting you will get a bsod.
     
    One way to correct this is to Install XP with the same raid setting in the bios as Vista, but you had problems doing this sucessfully. Another way is to reinstall Vista using the ATA setting in the bios like you did for XP, then Vista will also install a nice bootloader that you want.
     
    FYI
    http://bertk.mvps.org/html/dualboot.html  I only posted this to make you aware of the issue of XP erasing restore points in Vista when dual booting, not really anything to do with your current problem.
  • L

    LucasBB

    8 Posts

    176

    0

    Posted September 9th, 2007 09:00

    Actually my old OS is XP home not Vista... But the problem will remain i believe. I don't even have floppy drive to install RAID driver during XP installation. SO i guess my best shot is to install both of them with RAID disabled.

Dell Support Resources

Latest Solutions

View More