Quote:
Sorry I did nto know where else to post this.
Ok we have new Copies of XP pro here at work. I am trying to load it on my machine.

Don't laugh.

SOYO K7VTA-Pro
1.4 Athlon
256 mb PC133
Enermax 350watt PSU
IBM 30gig DTLA
Gainward GF2 MX400 64mb
556x Cdrom
16x10x40 Liteon CDRW
1.44mb Floppy
Realtek 8139 NIC
Intel HAM Dtata FAX Voice Modem 56K.

OK I tried to load WIN XP from the CDROM. It gets to the beginning, where it loads a bunch of files. It then says at the bottom afetr loading files, "STARTING WINDOWS". and it just sits there forever, never goes any furhter. I tried removing ALL hardware except for the Video, CDROM and HDD and still the same thing. I have loaded the Failsafe Defaults in the BIOS, but it still WILL not go past the Screen where it says STARTING WINODWS at the bottom of the beginning BLUE screen before installation.

Mike

Maybe it's the lightning-fast 556x CD-ROM you are using . But if not, what OS were you using before? It seems like you are using decent hardware (except for the whole Via thing, but that's another topic ), so what did you have running on it before the attempt to install WinXP Pro? Did you have any problems before this? Have you checked for BIOS updates, and have you tried disabling any onboard hardware (like onboard sound or NIC) in addition to removing the extraneous cards? Also, one last thing; I have seen installs fail because of a failing/flaky CD-ROM drive that does complete the file copy, but it corrupts some of the files in the process. So, if you have that option you could try swapping out the drive and see if the problem sticks around.

It was the GF2 MX400 card. Took it out, slapped ina PCi Graphics Card(el cheapo) and BAM off and installing. Someone on another forum gave me that tip since they had the same exact problem.
 
Mike

LOL, & there I was just about to suggest that you leave it to wait a bit longer & go make a coffee & chat up a secretary or two - with mine & a few other ppl's systems that I've set up it pauses for a few mins when it gets to that point then [eventually] carries on. On my system it feels like about 10 mins, though in reality is probably closer to 5.
 
Another thing you could try is copying the files to HDD before install, though as some of them have filenames longer than 8.3 you would have to do this under another version of windows or shove the drive in an already installed system. Installing from HDD is faster than from CD - 's why I always do it that way.

WOOO...556x Cdrom..I didn't notice I typed that until now...BOY that is fast..no wonder I was having problems..
it was probably flying right past the install fiels on the CD..lmao...man what a typo. ;(
 
Mike

We got the same ****in problem on the PC of my bro when we tried to install XP.
The system froze at "Setup is starting Windows".
We tried to install with 3 different mobo or another cdrom drive.
And yes, he have a Geforce2 MX400...
We got the same problem with his old GF2MX.
 
It is probably the problem, we will certainly try with another videocard.

I have built a few systems with the DFI AK74EC motherboard with a GeForce2 MX card. There is a bios update for that board that addresses this very problem...where you can't install XP. Good advice earlier to check for bios updates.
 
Ed