Will not boot

Discussion in 'Software' started by Joey Jiggles, Feb 14, 2012.

  1. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    I am using the wizard to go back and wipe the partition and check to make sure it is active. Then will use nlite. Just wanted to clarify that.
     
  2. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Correct, clear the CMOS, partition and format with partition wizard, mark the partition as active and then use the nlite disk to install. Don't let the XP install disk try to reformat the partition.

    If that does not work, I would like to try something else before going to the USB flash drive install.
     
  3. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Well I went to clear it with the Wizard and now I can't set it to Active (it is greyed out). I tried looking at the link you gave me before. But I can't figure it out. Can you help me with this?
     
  4. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Did you partition and format the drive?
     
  5. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Is that me creating a new one?
     
  6. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Yes, did you create a new partition with Partition Wizard and ntfs format?
     
  7. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    So it makes 2 partitions come up I guess? I went to the bigger one (298.08 GB) and had to make it a primary before I could make it active. So that finally worked.

    Is the other one ok to be there? (7.88mb) I don't have to do anything to that one correct?

    Also, did I miss anything up with the CMOS prong thing? Will I need to do that again?
     
  8. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Yes, do not worry about the CMOS clearing if you have already did it. Do not worry about the 8mb partition. That is normal for XP. Try the install now with the Nlite disk. If does not work, I want to try something with Partition Wizard again before going to the USB flash install.
     
  9. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    I have nLite in ready to go. I am at the Setup screen. What did you mean when you said "Don't let the XP install disk try to reformat the partition."

    I want to make sure I get this right.
     
  10. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    It has been a long time since I have done an XP install but I just wanted to be sure that if the install CD does asks if you would like to format the existing partition, just cancel.
     
  11. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    It gives me only this option:

    "The partition is either too full, damaged, not formatted, or formatted with an incompatible file system. To continue installing Windows, Setup must format this partition."

    Now I clearly picked the bigger of the two partitions listed and here are my only options:

    Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick)
    Format the partition using the NTFS file sytem

    That's it.. this is what I have been doing and it will run all the way through to 100% and then tell me it couldn't be formatted.
     
  12. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    I really do not understand what is going on. Try this. Delete the partitions with Partition Wizard but do not partition and format. Just delete the partitions. Then run the nlite XP install disk and when it asks to choose a partition size select something like 28GB.

    See this screen.
    http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxpclean2.htm

    So you would put in 28000

    Then when it asks what files system to use select FAT but not quick.
    http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxpclean2_3.htm

    Does the install still fail? If not, we can convert back to NTFS and expand the partition.
     
  13. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    It won't let me delete, but I did "wipe partition fill sectors with zero"
     
  14. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    For some reason every time I try and wipe this partition it freezes around 50%. Eventually I just cancel after a long time of waiting and then it shows that there is nothing on the partition. I don't understand.
     
  15. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Use the UBCD you have and in the (Edit: should be the HDD diagnosis category) use the utility to zero out the drive you used before. DLG Diagnostic (Western Digital) 5.19.

    Edit: After you zero the drive can you check something. On page 68 of the manual it shows the SATA 0 port. Is the the port the red data cable from the hard drive is plugged into?
     
    Last edited: Feb 29, 2012
  16. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Ok cool.. the QUICK erase is about to start now.
     
  17. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    What I do not understand is that Partition Wizard could not wipe the disk with zeros and you are doing the quick erase with the WD utility.

    Does the Active@ KillDisk Free Edition in the wiping section of UBCD allow you to do a zero out of the drive? This should not take such a long time as the WD utility was going to do.
     
  18. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    It's alright, it is only going to take a little over an hour. So I will check it in the office tomorrow afternoon.
     
  19. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    The Sata 0 is plugged into a BLUE Cable.
    The Sata 1 is plugged into an Orange Cable.

    I am about to try and load up nlite now and do what you told me with creating a new partition. The Wipe to Zero worked with UBCD.

    Should I go ahead and do this?
     
  20. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    What is the color of the data cable from the hard drive. It should be orange. What the blue cable is plugged into? I am interested in where the cable from the hard drive is going to.

    Edit: I just looked at your picture and it looks like the Blue SATA data cable is coming from the hard drive and the orange is to a CD/DVD drive so everything is okay. Try the install with the Nlite disk and set the partition size to 28000 MB and do a full fat format.
     
  21. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    So far so good.. it is formatting under FAT
     
  22. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Update.. It's copying files to the Windows Installation Folders!
     
  23. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    So it seemed to actually be rebooting and everything and the screen just went blank. Hasn't do anything for 10 min. I'm scared to restart.

    EDIT: This came up...

    "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
    Please re-install a copy of the above file."
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2012
  24. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    I am out of ideas on this. I would say it is either a bad install CD or hard disk that is failing or Optical drive.

    If the install CD is still in the drive remove it and try rebooting.

    I would say the last option is to try installing by USB flash drive.

    Edit: I believe you said you burnt the Nlite CD at 15x. I would try burning at 4X and try again before we do the USB install.
     
  25. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    I don't have anymore cds right now. Can we give the USB a shot?
     
  26. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    We can try WintoFlash.

    Download and then use the Nlite install CD. If this does not work, there is another program but it is a little more complicated that will use the iso file that Nlite created.

    Edit: Connect the USB flash drive, then boot the computer. You may have to press f12 at boot and select USB.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SwZDboRv6U
     
  27. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Nope.. my computer just froze after I clicked the USB device to boot from.
     
  28. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    If you try it in another computer, does it boot?

    Edit: You may have to change the options in BIOS and select USB as first boot device of your Dell.

    Edit: See page 47 of your manual. There are troubleshooting lights. See if there is any error per the manual.
     
  29. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    I looked at the lights. It looks like it will hold 1,2 for a while and then hit 1,2,3. I checked the manual and now it wants me to start removing cards from the computer. Ugh.. I'm about to throw in the towel. We were so close with booting it, just that one file stopped us.

    Anything else?
     
  30. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    When you look at the files on the USB flash drive, do they correspond to the files and folders on the Install CD? Do you still have the iso file created by Nlite?

    3 lights of 1,2 and 3 means you are trying to boot from a floppy or USB drive. So, I would believe that would be normal. 1 and 2 does not look good. You might want to try making sure all of your cables are properly connected.
     
  31. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    So when I tried booting from the USB. The same error came up as when I did it with the CD. And as for what is on the USB, it was pretty much just what the youtube clip told me to do. It copied my xp cd pretty much.
     
  32. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    So you are talking about the "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe" error?

    Just for the heck of it, try the install with the original XP home install CD and see what happens. Zero out the drive with Active@ KillDisk wiping utility first.

    If that fails, I am pretty much out of ideas and am sorry that I do not really know what else to try. It could very well be some kind of hardware problem especially with the lighted number 1&2 lights. It may be worth it to take it to an independent shop and see if they can find the hardware problem.

    This is really a problem that does not make sense as we tested the drive and the memory and those checked okay. Maybe it is a motherboard issue. From doing a search, it seems this problem effects more Dell computers than anything else.
     
  33. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Alright cool. I will give it one last go around. Then I will take it to a shop called "3rd Floor Window".

    I will let you know!
     
  34. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    That Active Kill program has a lot of options man, can you help me out on what to do?
     
  35. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    I have used it a couple of times. There should be and option for one pass erase.
    I will try to boot it up and see the exact option to use.

    I think you are talking about all the options at first boot regarding emm386 and such. I just let it pick the first and it automatically booted to Active@kill disk.
    Use the arrow keys to scroll down to the hard drive and then press F10.
     
  36. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Great.. thank you. Talk to you tomorrow.
     
  37. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Ok yeah, when you hit F10 it is way simpler. But real quick, I am assuming I do the (80h) (C:) No Name Unallocated and not the (82h) Primary CDFS?

    I'm going to go ahead and do what I said first.
     
  38. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    I am not sure what is going on as when I booted UBCD and started Active Kill Disk, I was able to see my hard drive. Selected it, but I did not go through with the wipe of course. Are these options present after you pressed F10?
     
  39. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Essentially it just said hit F10 again. It's going to take about 24 hours haha. Whatever, I will let it sit and deal with it on Monday.
     
  40. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    Looks like it froze at 44%. Should we just chalk this one up as a loss? I spoke with my boss, looks like we are just going to look into another computer. Any recommendations? haha
     
  41. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    I have one and it would let you know if the install media is defective or not.

    Download the Ubuntu linux install CD. If it installs and runs then I would say your XP disk is bad. You can always wipe the drive again after getting a good XP install disk.

    You can burn the iso with Imgburn. Download the 32bit version. Good Luck.

    http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

    Edit: but with all the time being spent on this, If it is an important computer, it may be better to purchase a new computer if that is feasible.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2012
  42. sach2

    sach2 Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Hi guys,

    You could try copying the XP CD and writing a fresh one.

    Using imgburn's "Create Image File from Disc" option to copy the XP CD to HD as an .ISO file. Then use imgburn's "Write Image File to Disc" option to burn the ISO file you just created to a fresh CD. Then try the install using the fresh CD.

    If that doesn't work then I would suspect the HD is bad no matter what the tests say.
     
  43. tgell

    tgell Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Thanks sach2. @Joey Jiggles, if you have a spare SATA drive, try that and if it also fails then it may be a motherboard. Like I said in one of my posts, it seems to be more common in Dell computers.

    http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-xp/xp-installation-problem/86650.html

    Can you press Ctrl+ALT+D at the dell logo and get a diagnostic. I also remember in this thread that the diagnostic lights showed an extension card problem.

    http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/p/18161466/18284452.aspx#18284452
     
  44. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    ok so I decided to give this a shot again. I copied my XP install CD but I noticed that when I burnt it back onto my cd it loos like a zip file and not an .iso. How do I make it an .iso?

    EDIT: I also can't seem to get it to run. Sort of forget the steps.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2012
  45. sach2

    sach2 Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Copying the CD should be just like the two steps I gave in post #142. When you use imgburn's Create Image from Disc option did you get an ISO file?

    Burning the ISO should just be using the "Write IMAGE file to disc" option and browsing to the ISO you created. Writing an Image file: http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61

    Did you have a problem with one of the steps?
     
  46. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    I simply did the same steps you told me. When it was copying it showed where it was being copied to and had .iso at the end. When it was done being copied it was showing as a .zip.
     
  47. sach2

    sach2 Major Geek Extraordinaire

    You may have ISO files associated with a zip/archiving program. No where does it actually say .zip but it just has an icon for your zip program? Does the file name end in ISO?

    So you burnt the ISO file to CD using the Write Image file to disc option? If you open the CD/disc in My Computer what files does it show?
     
  48. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    You're right it doesn't have a .zip at the end. It does say over in the description that it is a jzip archive. And I did exactly what you told me. When I put it in my computer here that works I can just double click on it and it will open the file with all of the files in there. I think I just forget how to get it to run again in the messed up computer.

    I hit F2 and that screen comes up. I changed it to start using Onboard or USB CD-ROM drive and when I do that just nothing happens when I try to start up. That is why I feel like I am doing something wrong.
     
  49. sach2

    sach2 Major Geek Extraordinaire

    If you reboot with the disc in the tray and hit F12 during the Dell screen do you get a boot menu where you can select to boot from the CDROM? What exactly do you get on screen after you select CDROM?

    (You can also test your newly burned disc in the other computer to see if it boots. If you get the "Hit any key to boot from CD" message then the disc is definitely burned correctly. You can just eject the disc from that working computer rather than go any further in the boot process in that one.)
     
  50. Joey Jiggles

    Joey Jiggles Corporal

    I tried to boot up with the cd. Th e CD begins to load and right when it gets to Windows Start up.. I get the blue screen of death!
     

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