Windows XP Professional install problem

[Redial]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help me. I've been given an Acer PC which is/was running Windows XP Professional - Service Pak 2, but had a bad monitor. I swapped monitors and everything ran fine for awhile. When I moved the machine from home to my office, it wouldn't complete the boot process (except in Safe Mode). I decided to wipe out the old system and start anew.

I threw in the Windows XP install disk, reformatted the C drive, and began installing the system when the whole operation crashed! Now I'm stuck in an endless Setup cycle.

Rebooting leads to the Windows XP title screen followed by the window with "setup is being restarted..." Then: "Setup will complete in approximately 39 minutes." Of the 5 "bullet points" on the screen, 3 are green (completed). They are: Collecting Information, Dynamic Update, and Preparing Installation. The fourth one, Installing Windows, is in red.

Approximately 2 minutes later, the progress bar appears with the label "Installing Devices." When this bar is about 2/3 of the way across, which takes about 3-4 minutes, the screen either goes black and comes back on with the system frozen or else is stays black. The only action that can be taken then is reboot.

Rebooting will attempt to repeat the same pattern but will get the same results. If I remove the Installation CD, an error message will appear asking that it be put back. If I press the "Cancel" button instead of the "OK" button, I get a chance to look at the Setup log file (C:\Windows\setuperr.log).

It says: "Error:
Setup encountered an error while trying to set system security."
An extended error has occured."

Can anyone help me get out of this loop and get back on track?

TIA

Ron

[Redial]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help me. I've been given an Acer PC which was running Windows XP Professional - Service Pak 2, but had a bad monitor. I swapped monitors and everything ran fine for awhile. When I moved the machine from home to my office, it wouldn't complete the boot process (except in Safe Mode). I decided to wipe out the old system and start anew.

I threw in the Windows XP install disk, reformatted the C drive, and began installing the system when the whole operation crashed! I became stuck in an endless Setup cycle, and I had to return the computer to my home. However, I'm still stuck.

Rebooting leads to the Windows XP title screen, followed by a window with the message "setup is being restarted..." Then: "Setup will complete in approximately 39 minutes." Of the 5 "bullet points" on the screen, 3 are green (completed). They are: Collecting Information, Dynamic Update, and Preparing Installation. The fourth one, Installing Windows, is in red.

Approximately 2 minutes later, a progress bar will appear with the label "Installing Devices." When this bar is about 2/3 of the way across, which takes about 3-4 minutes, the screen either goes black and comes back on with the system frozen, or else it just stays black. The only action that can be taken then is to reboot.

Rebooting will attempt to repeat the same pattern but will get the same results. If I remove the Installation CD, an error message will appear asking that it be put back. If I press the "Cancel" button instead of the "OK" button, I get a chance to look at the Setup log file (C:\Windows\setuperr.log).

It says: "Error:
Setup encountered an error while trying to set system security."
An extended error has occured."

Can anyone help me get out of this loop and get back on track?

TIA

Ron

[PrntRhd]

I would do a HDD check using the manufacturer's utility for your HDD since that may have been why it did not boot in the first place.
Then try loading the OS.
If it continues it may be bad media on the install disk.

[Redial]

Thank you for the advice. Here's what I know now:

I've reformatted the C drive, low level, NTSF. Obtained a new Windows XP Professional Install CD, set the computer BIOS to boot from the CD, and reinstalled. The computer will not boot normally into Windows, but it will boot into Safe Mode, and into Safe Mode with Networking.

Any ideas at this point?

Ron

[Paul Komski]

Check device manager for any problem devices in Safe mode and use msconfig to try booting normally but with the basevideo option set in the boot.ini section. You could also try a diagnostic or selective startup from the general options.

http://www.freebits.co.uk/cleanboot.html

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Were any files not copied and skipped during the installation?

[malcore]

Does the freezing happen at the 34 minute remaining (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828267) mark?

Also, http://techtracer.com/2007/03/12/xp-installation-the-34-minute-hiccup/

[Redial]

At this point, there was no freezing during the install process. There *was* an exceptionally long time in which the progress bar did not progress, at about the halfway point, but it eventually began to move again (rapidly), and the installation process appeared to complete normally.

However, when the computer tries to boot we get to the Windows XP splash screen, we see about two cycles of the animation in the progress bar, and the screen goes black. Several seconds later the hard drive's activity light goes out. Then ... nothing.

Any ideas?

[malcore]

Sorry, once again I didn't read the entire thread. Follow Paul's post above mine. It does sound like a hardware issue.

Have you checked all the connections inside the case, as something may have loosened while in transit from home to office. Check that all cards and memory are seated properly and all power cables are inserted fully.

[Redial]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I'm happy to say that the problem is solved!

Thanks to Grand Master Geek, I was pointed to and read the article about hanging at the 34 minute mark. That rang a bell with me, as this was where the problem was originally (before I did the low level format, etc.). I followed the instructions and found the offending "inf" file. I deleted it, and the installation then ran smoothly all the way to the end. The computer is running fine as we speak.

Thanks again to everyone.

Ron