Windows XP won't install any more

[Cheule]

Evening all.

Got a bit of a stumper here. Here's a bit of background first.

Got a desktop tower, Epox 8K5A2+ motherboard, Athlon XP 2400+ processor and 512mb DDR mem. It's circa 2002 and has been the workhorse of my machines, having previously ran Windows 98, then XP, then latterly an XP/Ubuntu dual-boot combo. No problems at all.

Anyway, I decide it's time to upgrade and sell this machine to the brother-in-law, he asks me if I can wipe it and just have XP on it. No problem I say. Wish I hadn't said it now.

Every time I go to install XP, at some point during the install I get the dreaded blue screen of death with the "Hardware Failure. Contact your vendor for support" message. Now, I've hit the M$ website and looked up the problem, it could be faulty ram (nope, as I've changed all six known working sticks I have, plus the slots they go in, same problem) or the graphics card (swapped out with another, same problem) and so on. Oddly it did manage to complete installation when I disconnected the floppy disk and was working fine for about two hours. I was starting to believe I'd cracked it until it happened again

Oddly enough, out of frustration I installed Ubuntu 10.04 on two occasions and that installed and ran just fine, no problems at all.

So I've reached the point where XP says there's a problem, Ubuntu not.

Anyone had this before? I've been building my own machines since 2000 and not come across this problem before now.

 

[XmisterIS]

Hmmm ... have you tried using the Ubuntu installer to remove all the partitions and slow-format the entire disk, including the boot partition? That has worked for me in the past when XP has decided to be a pain in the arse!

 

[tincaman]

Do a full format, not quick.
Also could be PSU related

 

[Cheule]

Yup did a full format each time, never do the quick method. I like to be thorough

Interesting you mention the PSU, hadn't really considered that. Have to naff off to work in a few hours after sleepy-byes but when I come back tomorrow I'll do a swap with one of the other machines. The only bits not swapped are the HDD's and the CD-RW drive, so if the PSU is a bust I'll try those, if after all that it's still doing it, are we looking at a motherboard failure imminently?

 

[Bird Brain]

A long shot but have you tried another hard drive?

Oops just saw what you wrote in your post.

I had the blue screen thing before and most of the time it was memory or graphics card.But as someone said it could be power supply.

Looking up on google an idea is from me is there a fault code we could look up?

 

[Kestevan]

I've had this when using a dodgy hard drive.
In the ROM setup check if there is an option to enabel SMART hard disk checking. This is an hardware reporting tool built into certain drives. If the drive software detects a possble fault it reports it to the O/S which initiates a shutdown.

I've had a drive repeatedly reporting faults and killing windows. Switched off SMART monitoring and all OK, drive has then worked without a problem. Be aware though, that if there is a valid HD fault being detected you may be over-riding and running with a suspect drive.

 

[2Loose]

+1 for Hard drive related.

Glad other people have experienced this too. Was a pita.

 

[terry_gardener]

since you said ubuntu goes on ok.

to check if it is HDD related, there is drive management software built in to ubuntu thats can tell you if the drive is ok. also it has a feature to test the drives

 

[terry_gardener]

or install ubuntu and make it look like XP

gnome to XP

 

[Manonabike]

Evening all.

Got a bit of a stumper here. Here's a bit of background first.

Got a desktop tower, Epox 8K5A2+ motherboard, Athlon XP 2400+ processor and 512mb DDR mem. It's circa 2002 and has been the workhorse of my machines, having previously ran Windows 98, then XP, then latterly an XP/Ubuntu dual-boot combo. No problems at all.

Anyway, I decide it's time to upgrade and sell this machine to the brother-in-law, he asks me if I can wipe it and just have XP on it. No problem I say. Wish I hadn't said it now.

Every time I go to install XP, at some point during the install I get the dreaded blue screen of death with the "Hardware Failure. Contact your vendor for support" message. Now, I've hit the M$ website and looked up the problem, it could be faulty ram (nope, as I've changed all six known working sticks I have, plus the slots they go in, same problem) or the graphics card (swapped out with another, same problem) and so on. Oddly it did manage to complete installation when I disconnected the floppy disk and was working fine for about two hours. I was starting to believe I'd cracked it until it happened again

Oddly enough, out of frustration I installed Ubuntu 10.04 on two occasions and that installed and ran just fine, no problems at all.

So I've reached the point where XP says there's a problem, Ubuntu not.

Anyone had this before? I've been building my own machines since 2000 and not come across this problem before now.

Power supply is a good tip.

Can you try a different cable.

Can you copy the Windows CD to the HD and run the install from there (just to see it's not a problem with your CD-Rom drive.......

when you had the machine working for 2 hours.... where you using generic drivers or had you installed the motherboard drivers?

 

[on the road]

The motherboard could be on the way out. I had that problem a few years ago, apparently the motherboard gets very hot when installing XP, if you didn't have the proper fans in the first place then it damages the board over time. The motherboard on my computer is now fried. Get a torch and shine it at the board, have a close look and see if anything on it looks strange, like faint or small scorched marks.

 

[Cardiac]

Power supply related.... I have seen strange issues when the connector at the end of the power supply cable is making a poor contact with the motherboard, resulting in voltage fluctuations on the motherboard. But - do NOT give it a prod to see - if it's dodgy and making intermittent contact it could take out the motherboard. Power off, unplug everything and check that each socket contact at the end of the cable does not look like it may be slightly opened up. A careful squeeze with small pliers can sometimes help.

 

[Cheule]

Crikey - totally forgot to update the thread, sorry all. Here's where I'm at now.

Swapped PSU with another known working unit - same result.

Swapped Geforce 6800GS with a low-power Radeon 9600. Same result.

Swapped CD/DVD drive - same result.

Swapped 120gb HD with a 250gb 5400rpm one - same result.

Swapped memory sticks, and the order they are in - same result.

I cannot get through the install procedure - I get as far as loading all the drivers, then sometimes as far as pressing enter to install XP, then soon after the message pops up.

Ubuntu continues to be problem free.

 

[ColinJ]

Er, faulty Win XP installation disk?

 

[on the road]

I still think it's the motherboard. I had exactly the same problem with my last computer, wouldn't let me install XP but let me install other older operating systems. Eventually after a few weeks the motherboard died.

Windows XP uses a lot of power when installing and generates a lot of heat.