Windows XP won't boot? WTF

opmharley · Post by **opmharley** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:38 pm

So my friend bought a refurbished HP computer today to do sound recording with. 2.6ghz duo core,6gb DDR 800,640gb HD for $400.

It came with vista on it and our plugins dont work in Vista so I reformatted and installed XP Pro on it. When it tries to boot up it says a recent hardware or software change was caused this. Boot into safe mode or last known configuration.

None of the options work. I go into the recovery console, repair the boot file,master boot record,chkdsk everything. I even turned off automatic restarting upon failure and it goes to the blue screen of death.

Why in the hell is it doing this? I have it completely formatting right now. I've installed tons of OS's and never had this problem. What is stopping a drive that has nothing on it?

Thanks, Harley

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:47 pm

I think repairing the MBR wipes the drive also. Just do another format and install?

brembo · Post by **brembo** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:53 pm

HPs have a partition (sometimes) that essentially is a restore/OS copy. Since you have wiped all the files the comp might be looking at that restore/OS partition. I don't know the DOS command for wiping an entire HD either, someone here will tho.

Post by **Philip** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:05 pm

The DOS command for repairing the MBR is: fdisk /mbr

Even though repairing the MBR should not alter the partition information theoretically, I believe it breaks the Dell recovery partiton shortcut...

Dells do have a separate hidden partition for restoring the OS usually, CTRL+F11 ?

If you keep getting BSOD it may be RAM/CPU settings in the BIOS, if they're editable at all on that Dell.

I hope this helps

opmharley · Post by **opmharley** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:37 pm

dell? Its a HP.

I have it running a ntfs format right now. Not the quick option. Should I also fdisk /mbr?

i even deleted the partition they put the recovery stuff on.

I never had a problem like this before. I'm probably going to have him return it and build him one. That outta fix it lol.

24giovanni · Post by **24giovanni** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:41 pm

opmharley wrote:So my friend bought a refurbished HP computer today to do sound recording with. 2.6ghz duo core,6gb DDR 800,640gb HD for $400.

It came with vista on it and our plugins dont work in Vista so I reformatted and installed XP Pro on it. When it tries to boot up it says a recent hardware or software change was caused this. Boot into safe mode or last known configuration.

None of the options work. I go into the recovery console, repair the boot file,master boot record,chkdsk everything. I even turned off automatic restarting upon failure and it goes to the blue screen of death.

Why in the hell is it doing this? I have it completely formatting right now. I've installed tons of OS's and never had this problem. What is stopping a drive that has nothing on it?

Thanks, Harley

CD, Your yellow friend is back.

Paft · Post by **Paft** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:42 pm

Before you have him return it, I have a question: Are you installing from a vanilla WinXP, unpatched, setup CD?

If you are, try making a slipstreamed XP setup disc using SP2 or greater. There's a lot better hardware support in a post-SP2 XP... which might help matters.

opmharley · Post by **opmharley** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:42 pm

lol, I wish I knew what you meant.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:22 pm

New PC so probably some SATA controller. If it came with Vista, it's probably in AHCI mode, original XP will not know what to do with that controller unless you did the F-6 during the install and fed it the SATA driver. New computer, probably no floppy drive...so...outta luck there.

Can try to go into the BIOS and flip the SATA controller to legacy/IDE mode....and then install your chipset/motherboard drivers, and then the SATA driver, then flip the SATA mode in the BIOS back to AHCI.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:02 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:New PC so probably some SATA controller. If it came with Vista, it's probably in AHCI mode, original XP will not know what to do with that controller unless you did the F-6 during the install and fed it the SATA driver. New computer, probably no floppy drive...so...outta luck there.

Can try to go into the BIOS and flip the SATA controller to legacy/IDE mode....and then install your chipset/motherboard drivers, and then the SATA driver, then flip the SATA mode in the BIOS back to AHCI.

beat me to it.... that's why I have a external USB floppy drive but you could take the floppy drive and cable out of another comp just to plug it into this one for the time being but I'm willing to bet its the SATA controller also.

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:11 pm

24giovanni wrote:CD, Your yellow friend is back.

24giovanni · Post by **24giovanni** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:26 pm

CableDude wrote:

That would be the little yellow guy.

PsykoPenguin · Post by **PsykoPenguin** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:33 pm

24giovanni wrote:CD, Your yellow friend is black.

that is how i read it the first few times... finally realized it said back, not black.