Laptop format ,need help please

ViciousClone

ViciousClone

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Hi all..

oky i'm currently formatting a laptop..probably 6-7years old so it's the IDE drive

right the DVD rom is bugged and can't read disc anymore,so i've got an external drive ..

i get it formatted but when it reboots to do the Windows XP installation it either tells me "An error has been encountered that prevents Setup from continuing "

So try another disc,then eventually the other disc starts to install Windows but gets to 19mins then cant install the rest of the files?!

I thought about taking out the HD and installing via computer but cant...the drive has IDE pins,but for power i'm screwed with 4pins?!

Can anyone help?
 
You get adapters that can convert the laptop IDE drive to a desktop IDE drive + molex connector for power. I have one of these, but I'm not using it any more because I now have a fancier adapter that converts it all (SATA/laptop IDE/desktop IDE) to USB with an external power source: http://www.wootware.co.za/mukii-tip-q120u3-2-5-3-5-sata3g-usb-3-0-hdd-ssd-interface-converter.html

Installing Windows XP on a machine with a different chipset isn't such a great idea.

Perhaps you should first run a memory test on your laptop before attempting anything else on it.
 
May be a dumb question - but are you sure the install discs are ok ?
Does installation freeze at about the same point on both install discs ?
Are you selecting a quick or full format of the drive partition when prompted (try normal - not quick format).

I have had a similar problem on more than one occasion, out of frustration I ejected the install disc when things seemed to have frozen, then shoved it back in - to find the installation suddenly continue as normal.

Try cleaning the laser lens of the internal cd/dvd drive. You probably already did, but this time dash off to the local pharmacy & get a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol, it's dirt cheap - use that to clean the lens with an ear bud (assuming the cd drive is spinning and just wont read).
 
Also, if you are burning the discs from an image on your hard drive, try burning them at a slower speed than normal (e.g. 16x or 24x instead of 48x, or whatever your burner is capable of).
 
i remember reading somewhere on one of the forums that you should take your drive to a filling station and get the dust blown out from inside the drive with those high pressure air pumps.
 
I've seen this happen before where the HDD was wonky or the memory was bad.
 
Not much use, I know, but I battled for hours with the same problem on a desktop. I swapped RAM, processor, different install disks, everything, only to eventually find that the IDE cable was faulty. Replace, and I got the full monty.

This is a bit difficult in a laptop since there are no IDE cables.

I am, however, having a problem with an HP 4520S that won't reload Windows using anything other than the OEM disk. The problem is that it came with Win 7, and we got XP recovery disks. I DL'ed the HP disks for this laptop, but it freezes - "Starting Windows", with any disk except the XP recovery disks.

Ideas?
 
FlatspinZA said:
I am, however, having a problem with an HP 4520S that won't reload Windows using anything other than the OEM disk. The problem is that it came with Win 7, and we got XP recovery disks. I DL'ed the HP disks for this laptop, but it freezes - "Starting Windows", with any disk except the XP recovery disks.

Ideas?
Click to expand...

The hp discs you downloaded for the laptop contain win7 ?
If so, was there a glich with the download perhaps, or maybe burning the discs ?
 
If the laptop came with win7 it would have a sata hard drive - will the xp discs include the sata drivers, probably not.
May have to check sata settings in bios.
 
grantza said:
The hp discs you downloaded for the laptop contain win7 ?
If so, was there a glich with the download perhaps, or maybe burning the discs ?
Click to expand...

I made a USB boot drive using Windows 7 USB Tool - I have original Windows 7 disks which freeze at the start screen, exactly like the one I DL'ed.
 
perhaps the hard drive has errors.
try creating 2 partitions and see if you are able to install to the 2nd partition.
 
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