can't load windows xp onto new comp! so frustrated!! omg!

[deadman.inc]

well, i have been working on this comp for over a week now, and still i can't load windows xp. called my motherboard company, and they say i need a high speed cd rom, 52x or higher, why? because that's what windows xp pro needs. well ok. . .i ordered a cd rom, and now it's gonna take three more days to come. so i went and saw microcenter, and they said you don't need a high speed cd rom. a dvd rom should do.

i put in the 'win xp pro' cd and boot. it checks and then says 'Replace and press any key when ready.' i do. . . and it displays the same message. it detects all my hardware on there. the optical drives, my sata hd, the cpu, everything.

i tried loading the new bios too. donloaded it on to a floppy disk, and put it in my new comp, and it still displays hte same message. what's more intresting is that, it easily picks up the windows 98 cd/floppy disk i have, and in fact, it goes into the setup too, but as win 98 is not compatible with my setup, it jus hangs. so what to do???? so frustrated

[Confused]

What mobo? HD specs. (IDE or SATA, size, ect)? Amount of RAM, type and number of sticks.
Chas

[deadman.inc]

mobo:
Aopen AK86-L" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU

my processor is an athlon 64, 2800+

hd:
western digital 7200rpm 80 gb SATA drive

ram:
A-DATA 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200

i have two optical drives:
a sony 16x dvd rom
NEC 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive

my video card:
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9200 Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-bit, TV-Out, 8X AGP

[deadman.inc]

oh forgot, 1 stick of ram.

[Confused]

I'm not familiar with that board but will tell you my experience with Asus and SATA.

I had to open the mobo CD and copy the SATA drivers onto a floppy. I copied everything under Drivers/SATA except the PTF and GUI files.

Then I put the floppy in and booted up the XP CD. When XP prompted for third party drivers I hit F6. It copied the drivers and proceeded with the install..
Chas

[trulad]

Just hit the key to boot from cd 1 time. After you get the second message to hit any key to boot from CD just let it go and in a few seconds XP will begin to install. Hitting a key to boot from CD more than once will just take you around in circles.
trulad

[deadman.inc]

ok i tried what confused said. but trulad, the boot from cd option never shows up. this is what i do:
turn on comp
put in the sin xp pro cd
turnoff and then turn on comp
it checks the two optical drives (dvd-rom, dvd burner)
and then displays the 'system disk error, remove and press any key' somthing like that. both, with or without the xp pro cd in one of the drives. i even hooked up a 50x cd-rom that i had, and still the same error. i would give it to microcenter, but they asking too much.


sigh. . . . . .first thing imma do when im done with this comp, is to sell it, and make a new one. i jus wanna know how to make a comp, thas all, is that too much too ask for? not blaming you guys tho. and thanks for all the help, i really really appreciate it.

[kev7555]

OK, sounds like you've been through all the right steps but let's be sure...

In setup bios you have boot options set to boot from CD rom? or DVD rom? or what ever device you are trying to boot from?

Error message says to replace disk and hit any key?

Or does it say "invalid system disk"?

[deadman.inc]

jus freakin great!! ma comp won't turn on any more, sigh. . . . .

[kev7555]

Dude, life sucks....

until you fix it.

Be sure to post a solution, if you find one.

[deadman.inc]

ok, it's workin now, jus had to clear the CMOS, works jus fine, the beep and everything, now for that message, here it is, word for word:

invalid system disk
replace the disk, and then press any key

if it is the hd, do you think i should take the old ide one i have on my old comp and put in this? the old one is almost full tho.

[kev7555]

Beyond my capabilities. The only time I have had the invalid system disk message is when it tries to boot from floppy and does not have a proper boot disk, or when I was trying to boot a system already formatted for some other system.

I would be certain bios is set to boot from cd rom and then use whatever OS disk you are trying to load. Beyond that, someone with more expertise will have to answer.

Sorry,

-Kev

[deadman.inc]

i really appreciate it

how do you set it to boot from the cd? i think i did it:

i went to 'advance bios setting' somthing like that, and made it to boot from drive c, which is my primary.

[Hi Ho]

called my motherboard company, and they say i need a high speed cd rom, 52x or higher, why? because that's what windows xp pro needs.

This doesn't really relate to the discussion but the tech support at that company seems to be pretty useless. They gave you horrible information. You could install XP with a 4x CD-ROM. It would take a while but it would work. It just makes me mad to hear about companies giving out poor advice.

[kev7555]

When the computer posts, hit whatever key it says to enter setup. Go into BIOS and select boot sequence. You should set it to boot from CD rom first if you are trying to install XP from a disk and floppy or C drive second. I always have floppy enabled somewhere just in case I need to use a boot disk for something.

Again, if you are trying to install XP from the CD, set the first boot device to CD ROM. XP should then boot from the disk and walk you through the process from there. If you are doing a new install, let XP format a new partition and install on that partition.

-Kev

[deadman.inc]

yep did the boot sequence, didn't work, i'll try it tomorrow again, to make sure, rite now the comps in ma room, and somelse other than me is sleeping in ma room, me? im sleepin on the couch! as kev7555 said, dude, life sucks. . . . tru dat bro.

well anyways, as for the aopen technical support, they really suck, i went to microcenter, and they said you don't need that, a simple dvd rom will do. and on the microsoft website, i looked under the requirements for win xp pro, and it said, you need a cd rom, or a dvd rom, that's it. so mad at em,aopen, i oredered a 52x32x52 cd burner for like 40 bucks!! omg! when i don't need it.

[deadman.inc]

oh yea, i forgot, my first boot device is a dvd rom, second is my dvd burner, and then i ahve the floppy, to make sure, this setup is under 'advance bios setup' in bios, rite?

and btw guys, thanks alot, i really appreciate all your help.

[Hi Ho]

Do you have the XP CD in the DVD-ROM and not the burner?

[kev7555]

Yeah, it depends on what motherboard you have as to where the boot sequence is listed and under what. On most of the boards I am using it is listed in setup as simply "BIOS" or "BIOS FEATURES SETUP" and then there will be a sub menu for boot sequence.

the choices for boot device are usually listed under "boot sequence".

On old ASUS boards (circa 1998) it actually has seperate listings in the main BIOS for:
1st boot device
2nd boot device
3rd boot device
4th boot device
Try other boot device

etc, etc.

Setup layout is different with every board so you kind of have to feel your way through it. The major point is simply to get into setup before any operating system is booted and tell the system to boot from the CD rom (or in your case the DVD rom) and not the hard drive as you are trying to get the XP disk to boot the system (not some other boot device) and then the disk will do the install.

I've run into problems with laptops not wanting to accept set-up commands when they are infected with viruses. Go in and tell it to boot from cd, restart the system and it defaults back to floppy or vice-versa. (Virus runs from system registry).
Sometimes it just takes persistance!!
Most older BIOS setups come defaulted with the floppy as first boot device, then cd, then IDE-0.

[andyms18a]

will the computer boot from a floppy disk if so download the windows xp boot disk set from http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm it maks 6 floppy disks that you boot from and it will run setup from the dvd or cd drive

[JonDee]

Do you have anything hooked up to your USB jacks? I had trouble installing Windows XP and Windows XP Pro and when I disconnected something I had hooked up to a USB Jack, It worked great from my CD Drive. Hope this helps.

[deadman.inc]

well i went into bios, its under advance bios features, this is how the setup is:
1) the first boot device cd-rom
second boot device to C: (primary master, my dvd rom)
third boot device to D: (primary slave, my dvd burner).

should i set it to:
2) first boot device C: (primary master, dvd-rom)
second boot device D: (primary slace, dvd burner)
third boot device to A: (floppy drive)

my board is an Aopen ak86-L, if that helps
and also i have a cd-rom with me, shoud i hook that up and try the first setting, where the first boot up device is my cd-rom?
i'll also try what andyms18a said, about dl'ing the windows xp boot up disk. not now tho, i have to go.

thanks y'all for your help, i realy appreciate it, can't wait till my cd burner comes tomorrow, 52x32x52, then i'll call Aopen, and shout like the roof's on fire! b*st*rds gave me the wrong information!

[Confused]

First boot device should be the drive that contains your OS. To load it would be your CD-ROM and after loaded it would be your "C" drive.

Disconnect every drive except your CD and your HD. Set first boot device as your CD.

Do you have to load the SATA drivers with the Aopen board? If so you will need to copy them to a floppy as I indicated in a previous post and hit F6 when prompted by XP.
Chas

[deadman.inc]

the mobo came with the drives for my serial ata on a floppy, so that won't be necessary. anyways, thank y'all for all your help, i really appreciate it.

i'll most probably try all these advices tomorrow evening, i have job!

can't wait till then

[deadman.inc]

how do i get it on 6 floppy disks? and thanks bud.

[deadman.inc]

this is what somonesaid:

boot to dos using a Win98 disk with xcopy on it and type in a:\smartdrv

then type xcopy (letter of your cd drive):\i386\*.* (letter of your hard drive):\*.*
like this xcopy D:\i386\*.* C:\*.*

Now it will copy all files from the setup folder of the cd to the harddrive.

When it completes it type in c:\winnt

This will run setup using all files from the hard drive instead of the cdrom

This will determine if the cd is faulty.

ok now, how do i get xcopy? will xxcopy work instead? and one more question, going back to what andy said, how do i get it on multiple flppy disks? it tells me that the disk has insufficient space, that's it. i put in another floppy disk, and it tells me the disk has insufficient space, how and what to do?????

i don't get it why isn't this working??? is building a comp this hard??? omg!!!

it'll eventually end up me calling someone to the house to fix it, or me goin to microcenter to get it fix. . . .this womps!

[tigstah]

Originally Posted by deadman.inc this is what somonesaid: boot to dos using a Win98 disk with xcopy on it and type in a:\smartdrv then type xcopy (letter of your cd drive):\i386\*.* (letter of your hard drive):\*.* like this xcopy D:\i386\*.* C:\*.* Now it will copy all files from the setup folder of the cd to the harddrive. When it completes it type in c:\winnt This will run setup using all files from the hard drive instead of the cdrom This will determine if the cd is faulty. ok now, how do i get xcopy? will xxcopy work instead? and one more question, going back to what andy said, how do i get it on multiple flppy disks? it tells me that the disk has insufficient space, that's it. i put in another floppy disk, and it tells me the disk has insufficient space, how and what to do????? i don't get it why isn't this working??? is building a comp this hard??? omg!!! it'll eventually end up me calling someone to the house to fix it, or me goin to microcenter to get it fix. . . .this womps!

hey dude. you dont need 6 boot disks...just 1 lil ol program will do
bootdisk

just go to the first download...bootdisk essentials...its like 900k.....download it to a floppy, pop the floppy in change the bootdisk to floppy. make sure you write down this down

after it runs....your cdrom should be r:\i386
then type winnt.exe....then xp should start.....

[deadman.inc]

i get the part where i have to dl the bootdisk essentials, however, i don't get teh part about running it. what does it mean by change to the cdrom drive?

and thanks man, this really helps, sad i can't try it out rite now, the comp is in my room, and someone else is sleeping in my room. sigh. . . . .

wait. . . i think i get it. my cdrom, well, cd burner, is hooked up to my primary master, C:, so this is what i have to type in C:\i386, [enter], then type in winnt.exe

rite?

[tigstah]

no c: would be your harddrive...once you run the disk...it will display, telling you your cd-rom letter is now r.....

hope that helps

[deadman.inc]

thanks man, i really appreciate it, i'll post back tomorrow most probably