Windows XP Installer Freezes!

[crincon]

First, hello to everyone,
I'm new in this forum and I'm looking for some help.

Recently my computer crashed and it could not restart the system (Windows XP Media Edition SP3) anymore, first it said the ntldr file was missing, so I decided to avoid the mess and reinstall the whole system since my working files are safe in another drive.

The big problem is that for some reason the Windows XP SP3 installer always freezes when it reads that there are 34 minutes left to finish the installation and while there is a progress bar that reads something like "Installing devices". I tried several times, I tried after re-formatting the entire disk and I tried with both Windows XP Pro SP3 and Windows XP Media Edition SP3 and it always freezes at that stage.

I'd like to know what is causing this problem as I have installed XP SP3 several times before with no incidents and how this issue can be fixed.

My computer is a 3 year old Intel Pentium 4, 768MB RAM 2.4Ghz with an Intel D848PMB Motherboard.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

Carlos R.

[glc]

Run ram and hard drive diagnostics.

Ram: www.memtest.org
Hard drive: From the manufacturer's site

[EzyStvy]

Windows XP Setup Stops Responding During the "Collecting Information" Portion of Setup
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp


Windows XP Setup Stops Responding (Hangs) During the "Preparing Installation" Phase
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp


Setup Stops Responding with 34 Minutes Remaining
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp


Computer Stops Responding When You Install Windows XP on a Computer with an i815 Chip Set Motherboard
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp


Setup Stops Responding or Displays an Unrecoverable Error Message
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp


Windows XP SP1 Installation Stops Responding with About 34 Minutes Remaining
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp


Windows XP Does Not Respond at "Setup Is Starting Windows XP" Message
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

[crincon]

Found out a faulty floppy IDE cable was causing the freeze, I unplugged it from the motherboard and unplugged the power input of the floppy drive and the installation went on normally. Thanks heaven everything else is working fine (so far).

Thanks everyone for their advice, I'll stay logged in to seek help for further problems and help others in whatever I can too.

Thanks again!