XP Home - New Install Hang?

[timbuk2]

Quit last night, regroup today. New build (ECS N2U400-A, 2600+ Barton, 1GB DDR PC2700, 9800Pro128, WD120GB).

POST, BIOS, mem, video, device-detect all good. BIOS checks show CPU temp good, cooling fan ok. VMI Pool data ver ok, first msg is "Boot from CD:"

Enter gets: "setup is determining your hardware configuration", where it appears to hang. (OEM XP Home CD)

Shut it down (three attempts) after ~15-20 minutes ea. Persistent HDD disk activity, w/front panel light.

2 Q's:

1) Am I giving it enough time or does this step take "awhile"?

2) FDisk isn't a prereq for a complete fresh XP install is it? (forgot to format it before I yanked it from the other sys; it stored vid captures, no apps; I could pull it put it back, slick it and then start over but if XP inst does the partitioning during inst it shouldn't be necessary, right?"

thanx.

 

[johnjkr1]

1.) Yes, you are giving it enough time, this step should not take 10 minutes.

- Try it with as little hardware as possible (reset the cmos, make sure no overclocking is going on, remove any pci cards). I had a pci wireless card that would cause it to hang here
- Try a different cdrom
- Test out your hard drive with the hard drive diagnostic
- Try it with only one stick of ram

2.) Fdisk/Format is not required. You can put in a totally blank or a totally full hard drive and still use the XP cd to destroy, create and format partitions.