WINXP Install Probs...Please Help

[sammy g]

Hey guys..I have a friend that is attempting to install windows XP on his computer with a freshly formatted hard drive but there are some issues. After it formats the drive and loads the install files it resets but goes to a completely black screen. It doesn't kick into the install screen like it's supposed to. I can't get near the system (I'm 1000 miles away) and can't think of any way to fix the problem over the phone. The system has a MSI-6309 mobo, P3 650, evga geforce 2mx, SQ2500 sound card. I don't think it's a hardware issue because I had him try it with all the parts taken out. Any suggestions?

 

[RustyNale]

Did he disable on board sound? Does he have another video card he could try? Does he have another stick of ram he could switch out?

 

[sammy g]

I could send him a stick of ram to use, I don't think he has another video card to use, but I could prolly send one out to him. I'm 99% sure that the onboard sound is off, but I might just tell him to take out the card and enable the onboard as if I remember correctly the superquad is a pain in the ass with drivers...I'll have him try those ideas and get back, but if there are any other suggestions I'd love to hear them....I'm a piece of clay...mold me.

 

[RustyNale]

If it's the sound card, just leave it out of the box till he's got XP completely installed, then install it. Sounds like a video or sound driver is being provided by XP when it needs to come from the device manufacturer and therein lies the conflict.

 

[Katax]

I struggled with the video card when i installed xp. Had to get a newer one. as it started booting up for first time before the xp logo with the light going side to side it would kick back to dos start up screen again.

 

[sammy g]

I had my friend try the install with all of the cards taken out of the system, but it had the same result. I think it might be a problem with the boot sector of the hard drive because everything runs smoothly until it gets to a point where it needs to access HDD info. In this case after copy install files to the hard drive and beginning the meat of the XP setup. Any suggestions?

 

[sammy g]

and by suggestions I mean to fix the HDD's boot sector...He doesn't have another HDD to throw in there and data preservation doesn't matter.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

You could start by booting from the XP CD and running chkdsk from the recovery console, then fixboot and fixMBR if needed. Also, have you eliminated a faulty IDE cable as the culprit? Downloading and running the HDD manufacturers diagnostic utility and running it on the drive if needed wouldn't hurt either.

 

[sammy g]

I'll have him try the repair utilities tonight. Hopefully that works. I haven't ruled out a faulty IDE cable, but will have him give that a shot as well. thanks for you help.