Computer dies while installing Windows XP

[Saajid]

As I said, my guess is the CPU drivers were not on the laptop, so they could not control cooling so it shut down. Same happens on old Acer machines. The installation usually picks up where it left off, so you were just lucky.

Hmm.. think you're wrong on that one. Now that the I managed to install Windows, it just keeps running no matter what I do. It hasn't just restarted, or shut down on its own. I tried installing Office 2007, by first copying the files to the HD, and then installing. It failed halfway through saying one of the files were unreadable.

Ran CHKDSK, and it reported the following (copied from the Event Log):

Checking file system on D:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.                         
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.

  27880775 KB total disk space.
  11272716 KB in 18621 files.
      4556 KB in 1663 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
     87727 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
  16515776 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
   6970193 total allocation units on disk.
   4128944 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
a0 51 00 00 47 4f 00 00 15 58 00 00 00 00 00 00  .Q..GO...X......
4d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 73 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  M.......s.......
b0 e5 b8 00 00 00 00 00 60 d4 7b 0f 00 00 00 00  ........`.{.....
a0 fc d8 00 00 00 00 00 70 a1 43 ed 01 00 00 00  ........p.C.....
60 a4 bc 58 02 00 00 00 a0 c9 4d 5f 04 00 00 00  `..X......M_....
99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 10 3a 07 00 bd 48 00 00  ..6......:...H..
00 00 00 00 00 30 08 b0 02 00 00 00 7f 06 00 00  .....0..........

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

Are there any other utilities I should download to help me diagnose the problem?

 

[Sackboy]

Hmm.. think you're wrong on that one. Now that the I managed to install Windows, it just keeps running no matter what I do. It hasn't just restarted, or shut down on its own. I tried installing Office 2007, by first copying the files to the HD, and then installing. It failed halfway through saying one of the files were unreadable.

Ran CHKDSK, and it reported the following (copied from the Event Log):

Checking file system on D:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.                         
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.

  27880775 KB total disk space.
  11272716 KB in 18621 files.
      4556 KB in 1663 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
     87727 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
  16515776 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
   6970193 total allocation units on disk.
   4128944 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
a0 51 00 00 47 4f 00 00 15 58 00 00 00 00 00 00  .Q..GO...X......
4d 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 73 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  M.......s.......
b0 e5 b8 00 00 00 00 00 60 d4 7b 0f 00 00 00 00  ........`.{.....
a0 fc d8 00 00 00 00 00 70 a1 43 ed 01 00 00 00  ........p.C.....
60 a4 bc 58 02 00 00 00 a0 c9 4d 5f 04 00 00 00  `..X......M_....
99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 10 3a 07 00 bd 48 00 00  ..6......:...H..
00 00 00 00 00 30 08 b0 02 00 00 00 7f 06 00 00  .....0..........

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

Are there any other utilities I should download to help me diagnose the problem?

So your PC restarts successfully.
It would still fit in with my theory if the correct drivers were part of Windows (SP2/3). The drivers possibly only kick in at a late stage of the install.

Why are you installing Office in that way?

 

[Saajid]

So your PC restarts successfully.

Yeah the PC restarts fine, and all seems fine so far, except for the office installation failing. Gonna try again since doing the CHKDSK.

It would still fit in with my theory if the correct drivers were part of Windows (SP2/3). The drivers possibly only kick in at a late stage of the install.

I guess it is possible. This machine is quite old. Very possible there are more than just a few things broken with it.

Why are you installing Office in that way?

ISO saved on a flash disk

 

[Sackboy]

ISO saved on a flash disk

Yeah the PC restarts fine, and all seems fine so far, except for the office installation failing. Gonna try again since doing the CHKDSK.

Maybe try burning the image to a CD/DVD.

 

[Saajid]

Maybe try burning the image to a CD/DVD.

OK after running CHKDSK, and extracting the ISO to the HD again (deleted the first extraction), and trying to install again, it worked.

Also managed to install AVG Free.

But I have a feeling things are gonna fall over soon. I think some of the files are copied onto bad sectors, and when they are needed in future, something is gonna crash.

 

[kingrob]

The hard disk is tired. Replace at earliest opportunity.

But it it's an old notebook, so it's most probably not SATA & it will cost you an arm and a leg.

 

[Saajid]

The hard disk is tired. Replace at earliest opportunity.

But it it's an old notebook, so it's most probably not SATA & it will cost you an arm and a leg.

Yip. How do I find out for sure what kind of HD it is, without opening up the laptop casing? The laptop doesn't have any proper model numbers or codes as far as I can see. So I can't just search on the internet either. Plus its a Mecer laptop

 

[ProAsm]

Then delete the existing partition, re-create it, and format using NTFS Quick.

Any reason why you chose the 'quick' format, that normally creates all sorts of problems when installing a new OS.
I always choose to delete the whole partition then reformat.
Another pitfall many people fall into is if you make a copy dvd is to burn it at not faster than 2X especially when you get to Vista or Win7 where you need to burn at 1X
The problems you are experiencing sound typical of a bad burn and or bad reformat.

 

[kingrob]

Yip. How do I find out for sure what kind of HD it is, without opening up the laptop casing? The laptop doesn't have any proper model numbers or codes as far as I can see. So I can't just search on the internet either. Plus its a Mecer laptop

Might get some info if you access the BIOS, otherwise you will just need a small star screwdriver to unscrew the HDD panel.

 

[Sackboy]

Might get some info if you access the BIOS, otherwise you will just need a small star screwdriver to unscrew the HDD panel.

Windows should tell him the exact model in the device manager.