SUPPORT: Cannot Install Windows XP
Your hard disk has been FDISKed, formatted, repartitioned and generally belted, battered and abused because you are going insane over XP simply refusing to install. No matter what you do, you cannot get into XP or even get it to go through the set-up process without failing at some point. As soon it loads, it either dies with one of any number of error messages or it just hangs.
It is possible that your XP installation CD is damaged or dirty, or more likely that there is a hardware conflict or failure. Conflict or failure includes damage to your hard disk, faulty or mismatched RAM, IRQ issues, consequences of over-clocking, or an incompatibility of some type.
Initial Steps
Before you proceed with trying to use the sledgehammer approach outlined later on this page:
Booting From Floppy
If you are booting from the set of six Windows XP boot floppies, make sure that you have the right set for your version of Windows XP. See the Windows XP Start-up Disks page on this site to check for and download the correct version if necessary.
BIOS Version
Update your machine to the latest revision BIOS. Visit your manufacturer’s website and look for updates. If your motherboard is new, do not assume that you have the latest BIOS.
Faulty or Dirty CD
Gently clean any dust or fingerprints from your CD. Also try another XP CD if you can borrow one. Read this PageWise article titled How to clean a CD .
Other Tests and Checks
Test each of your RAM sticks by unplugging one module after another, if you can.
Disable all APM / ACPI power management, BIOS caching and all other non-essential BIOS features. If you are over-clocking, don't.
Remove all peripheral equipment not essential to booting the machine. That means scanners, cameras, printers, external modems and so on, on serial, USB and parallel ports.
If you have a desktop or tower case machine, read the article on this site about checking for IRQ Conflicts. Disable all non-essential integrated components on the motherboard and remove all cards and adapters that are not essential to getting the machine to boot. That means disable integrated modems, PCI modem cards, sound cards and network adapters.
If you have a laptop, disable all the integrated components that are not essential to getting the machine to boot. That means disable integrated modems, sound cards, secondary CD devices (not primary), USB devices and network adapters. Remove the laptop from a docking station if it's in one.
If, after stripping the machine to bare-bones condition, you still cannot get Windows XP to install, you must consider applying The Sledgehammer Approach, outlined below. You should back up any important data before proceeding to the next step, which is fairly drastic.
The Sledgehammer Approach
You are going to boot your machine into a DOS environment and totally wipe the hard disk. Once that is done, you will install Windows XP from your hard disk instead of from the XP CD. At this point, you must have exhausted all other possibilities at your disposal and have no hair left to tear out. Make sure your system is “bare bones,” that is, apply the procedures outlined above.
What You Need
You must have a method of booting into MS-DOS. If you only have the Windows XP CD, you will need to obtain a Windows 98 boot floppy. Download it now.
Download both of these tools and install them on your boot floppy;
You will need these tools to wipe out any NTFS partitions on your hard disk. If you have not created any NTFS partitions, you can use FDISK.
Preliminary Reading
First, get these knowledge base articles and print them out. Read them, understand them. You must have the items listed above to proceed beyond this point:
How to Start Setup from MS-DOS in Windows XP
How to Create a Windows 98 Startup Disk that Supports FAT32
How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk
If you need additional assistance with FDISK, visit this page: Formatting / Partitioning Hard Disks and Installing XP . You will find a number of resources to help you with formatting and partitioning hard disks, with or without FDISK.
If you do not understand the articles, find someone who does and do not proceed further until you do understand them.
Wielding The Sledgehammer
You should now have enough information at your fingertips to be able to proceed with wiping out your hard disk, format it and install XP from a DOS environment.
FDISK and both of the tools you may have downloaded above will utterly wipe your disk partitions. Try one tool first then the other if you don't have success with the first. Once the drive is wiped, follow the instructions given in the article How to Start Setup from MS-DOS in Windows XP.
Essentially, you are rebooting from floppy and running FDISK or WIPEOUT or DISKPART, creating a single active partition in FDISK, rebooting from floppy again then FORMATing C: to give you a FAT32 partition.
If XP now installs after all that, your problem is to find out which of the equipment that you disconnected or disabled caused the grief in the first place. However having got this far, you may have bypassed the issue completely and it may no longer appear. Start adding or enabling your equipment one item at a time and let XP try to detect the equipment on reboot. If it still fails, you may need to perform some exhaustive tests on the HDD. A search of google for a disk test utility would be in order, as might be taking the machine to a professional.
Revision Date: 29 Nov 2003