cant reinstall XP help pls

[THunDA]

Ok ..I was dl'n something last night and my puter froze,when I rebooted it wouldnt get past the windows screen just hung there ...so I figure id throw the XP disc in and format cuz I dont really have anything important on my puter ...but my problem is that it was freezing at half way through the format ...so today I dl'ed Data life guard tools(for my WD hd) and wrote zeros to drive which took forever to get working cuz it wasnt booting off the floppy untill I cleared CMOS ...dunno if that fixed that but it worked ...after writting zeros I tried to install XP and now it freezes at 14% on the copying files part...Im really stumped XP was always simple to install ive done it plenty of times just dont know whats wrong now ....HELP pls

[JUAN DOS]

I suspect a malfunctioning hardware component.
I would remove all “unnecessary hardware” leaving minimal ram, vid card only.
If XP installation goes OK, install parts one at a time till defective hardware is identified.

[THunDA]

I will try that ...After it froze up at the copying files I reset puter and tried to boot to the data life guards floppy and it says "NTLDR is missing Press CTRL ALT DELETE to restart" doesnt even boot to floppy

[JUAN DOS]

I presume that you googled "NTLDR is missing".
just in case you were feeling panic / anger and not rational behavior, here is the answer.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q255220

HD error is indicated by MS.

Did Zeroing go properly?
Retest HD via W-D Data lifeguard

[THunDA]

well ..lol anger your right about that...I tried going barebones taking everything off..and the same thing ..I managed to do the zeroing with data life thing once and then it froze at the copying files when installing XP and then when I reset I get the NTLDR is missing..but I also get the same error when tryn to boot to data life now ...even if I get a 98 start up disk does same thing(wont boot to floppy get that error)and I moved the floppy to first boot device also...if I unplug HD and try to boot to floppy it says invalid system disk(didnt know if that would work anyway)..hmmm I have 2 ddr's also and tried one at a time to see if one stick was bad..sorry for the scattered info just tryn to get it all in..thx for your help

[Budfred]

Did you reformat the HD before trying to install XP? Also, have you run the diagnostics from the WD disk? You may need to make a clean copy since your old one may be corrupted.

Budfred

[THunDA]

I cant seem to get it to boot to even the data life guards disk and I did dl a new version from wd and same thing:(

[JUAN DOS]

Budfred,
Format is not necessary, or advisable prior to XP install.
The XP setup tools included on XP CD allow partitioning and formatting.

[JUAN DOS]

I have 2 ddr's also and tried one at a time to see if one stick was bad..

I presume that you are installing ram in the first slot, but just checking. You know, anger / frustration etc.

[THunDA]

lol..ya I usually run 2 sticks in 1 and 3 but yes one I put in slot 1 :)

[JUAN DOS]

Your mobo is reputedly a good overclockers board.
Have you been OCing it?

I found this to be rather disconcerting.
http://www.radiativenz.com/reviews/asusa7v266e/index4.shtml

above re cupped HS from factory

[Budfred]

I really need to stop assuming that XP is similar to other Windoze versions, Sorry... :o

I will be installing it soon on a system for my sis, so I will get to see what quirks it has first hand.
:p

Budfred

[THunDA]

well everyone its the hard drive I got a hold of a old one and it works on it right now ....gotta go get another 7200 rpm tomorrow...thanks alot for all your help ...thanks again