Clean Install

[Dawg]

Having a probem with a clean install. System slowed down (a lot), and seemed to have a virus in which could not be deleted. Took Sysatem disc out and formatted (NTFS). Put system disc back in infected machine and installed XP pro from disc, formatting again to be safe. Bios set to boot from HD 1 then HD 2 then CD rom. Install goes Ok, reboots automatically as it does, then when I reboot after loading M'Board drivers I get a prompt saying I need to boot from system disc and the whole reinstall process starts again. After reinstall 2 I try a reboot without putting the drivers in, i.e. only XP on the system and the same thing happens.
Any clues?
Thanks.
(PS Obviously not this machine..)
(PS 2 Virus got thro' updated XP, updated every night, and Zone Labs pro)

 

[CG Effect]

Try the install without using windows update and use slow format. Do an updated virus full scan after the motherboard drivers.

 

[confused]

im not sure exactly whats happening here, what disk are we putting back and where?

 

[Dawg]

Sorry if not clear.
Sequence is: remove HD from machine, use another machine to format the HD. Put HD back in first machine. Use original XP pro (SP2) disc to load XP. When XP disc prompts for a choice of leave as is/ quick format/format, format for a second time, then let XP disc continue the install. At the end of the install,before any updates, reboot. Machine will not boot from HD where the XP has been installed and will only boot from CD. If it boots from Cd all is ok, updates load etc, but a bit of a pain , and obviously not quite right, so I'm expecting trouble...

 

[confused]

ok, initial question, why are you removing the drive? why not just leave it in the pc where it is and boot from cd? if you install windows onto a drive on another pc, apart from potential activation problems, if the hardware isnt pretty much the same you are quuite likely to end up with a BSOD or not being able to boot at all.
2nd question, you ay it boots from cd and does updates? I'm totally confused with this one, if you boot from cd it would ask you to instlal or repair a windows installation.

CALV

 

[Dawg]

Initial question: I didn't think you could format a system disc, (the HD with the OS on) in the same machine it was running. Whenever I have tried I get a message saying it won't do it, so help on that one would be great. I format it on another XP OS machine, but when I put it back in the first machine let the XP installation process format again so that it is formatted in the machine where it is going to run, same MB, same CPU, same BIOS etc.
Second question: when it prompts to boot from CDand press enter, I put the Cd in and press enter. Then there is a second prompt to press any key. This prompt I ignore. The full stops after the prompt increase from one to five and the machine opens in Windows, and from there updates load, in Windows, and any other software I load, Zone Alarm, Adobe, Java etc.
I have tried the repair windows option but get stuck when it gets to a C:\ prompt, (DOS needed?)
Thanks for your time.

 

[Enigma121]

Dawg,

As confused suggests, boot from your CD and kick of the full install from there.

If your machine isn't booting from the CD, you might need to set the BIOS or Boot Order so that the IDE CDRom is first.

Look out for key prompts such as F2, F10, F12, Delete on starting a reboot, which get you into the BIOS menus to make sure this is set correctly.

From then on, follow the prompts which appear from the boot disk...

 

[Dawg]

(Ahem) Red face..
Checked BIOS, and system was trying to boot off my external backup USB drive.
Apologies all round. An offering will be made to the patron saint of plonkers.

 

[Enigma121]

Hey Dawg, don't apologise. I'm here to help where I can and we all overlook daft stuff sometimes.

If you'd like to make an offering, a referral to a friend looking for web design / ecommerce / search engine optimisation or general PC support would of course be very welcome.

Glad I could help.

 

[confused]

I once did something even worse (and am an IT chap), after having my pen drive in a pc to do some daigs with some software I have on there, I decided it would be better to reinstall, so I booted from cd, got to the disk partitioning stage, and wondered "what th heck is this little 2 gig all about" so I deleted it ! 3 guesses as to what it was !
We all make mistakes, as long as you are up and running is the main thing

CALV