windows XP wont install

[xiaoyi666]

My computer refuses to install windows XP. I put the CD in and in bios, the boot sequence is Floppy-CD-HDD, the CD loads and I partition the harddrive. My 120 gig harddrive is partitioned into 100 gig, 5 gig, and 10 gig with the OS installed on the 10 gig. The computer formats the C drive, 100 gig, and the E drive, 10 gig but leaves the 5 gig alone. Finally when it's done copying files and restarts, i take the CD out and let it load from HDD. It loads to the point of the Windows XP icon with the little blue bar on the bottom going back and forth and then my screen just flickers. Random horizontal yellow lines appear on the screen and sometimes the computer just restarts, other times it just stays like that. What could be the problem and how do I solve it?

Specs:
•Abit BE7-G Intel Socket 478 MotherBoard and Intel Pentium 4 2.53GHz Processor
•Rosewill 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory
•SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP1203N 120GB 7200 RPM 2MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive
•SAPPHIRE ATLANTIS RADEON 9600XT Radeon 9600XT 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card
•SONY Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE Combo Drive
400 Watt power supply

[Cricket]

Try a different video card...sounds like that Sapphire might be faulty.

Cricket

[xiaoyi666]

I took my vid card to get tested and they said it was fine. Could it be anything else?

[Cricket]

Could be the RAM too. Or the hard drive itself.

Try disconnecting the optical drives and try to boot the system up again.

Cricket

[xiaoyi666]

my RAM and hard drive were both tested to work. Disconnecting the optical drives also didnt work. Sometimes after that WindowsXP loading screen with the scrolling blue bar, it goes into a screen saying "Setup is Being Restarted.........." and then the screen does that thing again with weird lines going over it. I've tried increasing voltage to Ram and AGP also but still nothing. Any more suggestions?

[pam123]

What happens if you reformat the drive and give XP more room then 10 gb ?
Say 15, since you're not having any luck with the 5 gb partition.
Also make the C drive the 15 gb partition with the OS on it the boot partition.

[Cricket]

What brand is the power supply?

And who is testing your parts? A computer shop?

Cricket

[xiaoyi666]

The powersupply is 400 watts and just came with the case. ATX Switch power supply. My memory and graphics card were tested at tigerdirect.

[Negeva]

Might be a daft suggestion: is the XP disk new with SP2 slipstreamed?

If so you might need to upgrade the bios before the install - there were problems with P4 and SP2 something to do with it not reading the L2 cache properly. Check with mobo manufacturer for uopdates and info.

And I have to agree with pam, the first partiton (C) should be the one where windows is installed

[xiaoyi666]

The XPs are older versions. This is so frustrating.

[Panama Red]

When you say older versions, are these legit Windows XP disks with the holographic surface or copies?

[xiaoyi666]

Yes they are. I bought one a few years back and I have another one from my Emachines.

[Panama Red]

Don't use the one from the eMachines. That may be keyed to the bios/mobo. As others have suggested, you problem may lie in the partitioning method you are using. I'd suggest this process.

Boot to the XP cd. Select new installation. If it sees a previous installation, do not select repair. Delete all partitions (one at a time). Create a new 12 or 15Gb partition as C:. Create another partition or partitions of your choice. Format the C: partition in NTFS. Install XP on C:. On reboot after the files are loaded, leave the cd in the drive and let it boot from the hard drive. Do NOT hit any key when it asks to do so to boot from the CD ROM. Hopefully this will help.

[xiaoyi666]

Oh WoW it worked. I know I tried it before and it didn't work but it did this time; i'm baffled. However, I also opened up the case, changed my connectors to the hard drive. While doing so, found a open motherboard screw hole so I screwed a screw in there. AND, after doing all of that, increased the voltage to my CPU by 5 percent in bios. So I have no idea which 1 of those conditions actually made it work, but I REFUSE to go back and try to find out. Thank you for all your help, a 26 hour problem finally solved!

[Cricket]

You should at least go back into the BIOS and change the CPU vcore voltage back to the stock setting. All you're doing now is making the CPU run hotter than it should.

Cricket