Windows XP Format and Installation on a Dell XPS

[machine514]

I am working on formatting a friend's Dell XPS computer and re-install their copy of Windows Media Center. I am able to boot off of the recovery CD and get to the blue screen with menu options that say "press enter to install; press R to repair; press F3 to exit." I press enter to continue and it then freezes up where it is analyzing the hard drive. I left the computer for about 10 minutes and it did not do anything. I then spoke to Dell support, we ran a few diagnostics off of the drivers CD that all passed, and they say that their recovery OS disk is faulty. We have a new disk to try tonight but I want to be prepared in case I have to do anything else.

I have done this many many times on other IDE machines with no problems. Is it possible that it has something to do with the hard drive be SATA? I read some posts about having to install drivers by pressing F6, but this is a Dell OS recovery disk. Any thoughts?

-Machine

[EzyStvy]

If and when the F6 drivers are needed you would get a No Drive Found type message.

Since you made it to the analyzing the hard drive stage it appears you don't need the F6 drivers.

[chuck4456]

Clean the lens in the Optical Drive.

[machine514]

Originally Posted by EzyStvy If and when the F6 drivers are needed you would get a No Drive Found type message. Since you made it to the analyzing the hard drive stage it appears you don't need the F6 drivers.

Ok makes sense. In the future, when doing an install with SATA hard drives without the drivers preloaded to an OS disk, where would I find them? In other words, are they motherboard drivers or generic drivers?

-Machine

[machine514]

Originally Posted by chuck4456 Clean the lens in the Optical Drive.

So that would mean taking the drive apart and then wiping the lens with a line free cloth and what type of cleaner? Rubbing alcohol?

-Machine

[glc]

Do you have a recovery partition? You may not need to use the CD - fire it up and hit Ctrl+F11 and see what happens.

[machine514]

Originally Posted by glc Do you have a recovery partition? You may not need to use the CD - fire it up and hit Ctrl+F11 and see what happens.

I did not see anything noting that key stroke, but I will try it!

Thanks!

-Machine

[glc]

To clean the lens, you need to buy a kit - it's a CD with little brushes on the bottom.

[machine514]

Originally Posted by glc To clean the lens, you need to buy a kit - it's a CD with little brushes on the bottom.

Thanks.

Looking at the computer now. The new disk did not help.

Will post when I get a resolution.

-Machine

[machine514]

Wow. Worked on thsi computer for a few hours the other night. Just following up with what happened.

-With only the USB keyboard, USB mouse and monitor connected We ran hard drive diagnostics from the Dell boot CD. All tests passed.

-Loaded the defaults in the BIOS under the maintenance tab. Cleared the log in the BIOS.

-Booted off the resourse CD (diagnostic CD) and then went to a c: prompt

-This is where it gets interesting (for me). I typed the following.

debug

F 200 L1000 0
A CS:0100

got back-2595:0100
typed-MOV AX,301
got back-2595:0103
typed-MOV BX,200
got back-2595:0106
typed-MOV CX,1
got back-2595:0109
typed-MOV DX,80
got back-2595:010C
typed-INT 13
got back-2595:010E
typed-INT 20
got back-2595:0110
pressed enter
typed-G
got back-"program terminated normally"

I was then able to boot off of the Dell OS disk and complete the installation.

Anyone know what this debugging means?

Once I got the computer up and running with all of the drivers, only 2 out of 6 USB ports were working (the ones with the mouse and keyboard installed). Any idea why these ports would not be working?

-Machine