Windows Wont Reload

Here is my situation:

I have a dell dimension 8200 with an Intel Pentium 4 processor 1.80 GHz. My 40 Gig hard drive failed recently. I purchased an 80 Gig hard drive and installed it - both were Seagate hard drives. I've tried to load Windows XP with my reinstallation cd that came with the computer and get a message that windows requires an 80486 or later processor. This same computer with the smaller hard drive operated with windows xp. Any suggestions as to how to handle this problem?

 

Ok, that is a bizarre error. Is it a recovery CD, or a retail XP CD?

 

To add to this, can you post the error, word, for word?

 

It is a recovery CD. The message says "Windows requires an 80486 or later processor. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit."

 

I don't think that is a Windows XP error. It could be that the Recovery CD is looking for something specific to your old hard drive, like an identifier, to make sure you aren't installing it on a different machine.

 

what are my options to install windows?

let me give you the CPU info from the setup screen BIOS version A04:
CPU speed: Normal
Bus speed: 100 MHZ
Processor 0 ID F12
Clock Speed 1.80 GHz
Cache Size 256 KB

 

Not a lot of options with a recovery CD. There is hope of course. OEM copies of XP are relatively cheap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102059

I'd make certain that my suspicion is correct by putting the old HDD in and trying the CD before purchasing anything though.

 

I put the old HD in and it wouldn't recognize it. The CPU information did not change either. What should I do next? Any Ideas?

 

Adrynalyne,

Is this a processor problem? The old hard drive didnt change the processor information. How can I be sure buying new software will fix the problem?

b-tiger

 

Changing the HD wouldn't change the processor info in the bios.

Is the new HD correctly detected in the bios? Have you partioned the drive and formatted it yet?

 

The new hard drive shows up in the BIOS. My processor is just slower than what it was. Would the old hard drive failing cause the processor to go bad?

I took a copy of Windows 98 I purchased years ago and tried to load it. The drive was partitioned and formatted and made it to the "checking configuration stage" and I got that same message Windows requires an 80486 or later processor. Any ideas?

 

Sure you didnt knock anything lose when changing the hard drive?

 

And what do you mean by "My processor is just slower than it was"?

Is the CPU displayed in the Bios correctly?

I would also try and see if you can reset the CMOS, and as a last resort see if there is a Bios update.

 

I just meant the processor is not advanced enough to operate windows now according to the message.

I think everything is ok. Anything in particular that I need to be looking for?

What do I look for to see if the CPU is displayed in the Bios correctly?

Where do I look for a BIOS update?

Lastly how do I reset the CMOS?

 

I suggested Bios update as a last resort, not first or second, so leave it alone for now at least.

Go into the Bios and make sure the CPU is displayed correctly, ie size, speed etc.

It should be fairly obvious if you know what the CPU is supposed to be.

 

It says on the Setup screen (F2 when the computer is booting) Intel Pentium 4 Processor: 1.80 GHz. That is what I ordered with the computer so that is right.

It also says BIOS version A04.

Now when I scroll down to the CPU information on that set up screen this is what I get:
CPU speed: Normal
Bus speed: 100 MHZ
Processor 0 ID F12
Clock Speed 1.80 GHz
Cache Size 256 KB

 

Yeah, I read the earlier post, but I didn't know if it was correct without knowing what your CPU is supposed to be.

If it's a 1.8, then your settings are OK.

Try entering the Bios and using Fail Safe Defaults, then check the hardware entries and make sure they are OK.

This is a very strange problem, and it could be anything from an incorrect setting, to a failing item.

 

What do you mean by fail safe defaults?

 

Enter the Bios and you will see at the bottom "press F*whatever to enter Fail Safe defaults", then save your settings.

It will be obvious when you see it, and it has all the info at the bottom of the screen.

 

I am not seeing anything about fail safe defaults on my screen. I press F2 to enter the setup screen (does that constitute getting me into BIOS?)

Across the bottom of the screen is the arrow keys to select, space + - to change, esc to exit, and F1=Help.

Do I need to look elsewhere?

Please excuse my lack of computer knowledge. I know very little about this. Thank you very much for your help.

b-tiger

 

There isn't one key only for all PC's to enter the Bios, it depends on the manufacturer.

It could be F2, or F1, F11, Esc etc, but it seems like you are there already.

Use the arrow keys to highlight the entry, then press Enter.

If you don't know much about this, or don't have Fail Safe Defaults as an option (strange, I have never seen a PC with just those options), then don't play around in there.

Sorry, but without seeing the PC I'm almost out of ideas, and I don't feel comfortable guiding someone over the internet through the Bios.

 

I'm just coming in behind everyone's hard work here, but may I please add my $.02?

I'm thinking that the earlier question about maybe you knocking something loose might be on track.

Maybe there was even a static discharge that damaged something while you worked. You don't have to notice the discharge for it to be enough to do damage. You probably know to touch the case over and over, every time just before you touch a component inside the case. You must know to unplug the computer, too?

Your cpu is way, way beyond an 80486. All of this might have something in common.

Look at the capacitors on your motherboard really closely. They are very obvious, barrel-like cylinders that are in various places, protruding from the motherboard. There is a real issue lately with those. They are supposed to be perfect cylinders with straight sides and flat tops. Are any of them swelling out on the sides or the top? Worse, are any of them leaking a substance?

The one thing you haven't said, or that this space cadet doesn't see, is exactly when in the installation attempt you get this stop screen and error message. How far does it go? Does boot from the cd? Is it after that, and how close can you come to describing what all happens before the error message, to tell what works and what doesn't? Exactly at what point does it stop?

I hate to be the one to tell you that I think your motherboard is gone, but you've been asked and you've answered all of the right questions otherwise, and good techniques suggested so far aren't even working or available.

Can you please answer the one question above and maybe with good luck I'll be dead wrong?

 

It happens after I give the command to boot from CD. Then I get a message saying that setup is inspecting my hardware configuration. From there it pauses and then i get the 80486 message.

On a side note - I found an old copy of windows 98 and tried to install it. It went through the whole process of formatting, partitioning, up to the blue screen for setup to inspect and I got the same 80486 message.

I see nothing wrong with the capacitors.

Thank you for your help.

b-tiger

 

I still suspect your CPU.

I would at least check that it's physically installed correctly.

 

You know, it could be a lot of things maybe, but the machine will go through the power on self test (post) and all the way to beginning of a windows install only to have "setup" on the CD balk when it tries to read the hard drive. At least it sounds that way from here...?

That would make me start thinking that the core hardware is all working.

I would replace the ribbon cables to the CD and HDD and be sure they are securely plugged in at both ends as a long shot. A ribbon cable could have a broken wire, allow the bios to see it but "short" on a read/write effort. Most likely here that would be the HDD cable because that's where everything is pointing. If that didn't help, it would "seem" as if there is a broken channel on the mobo and the data is blocked or shorted somewere...

I wouldn't toss that "bad" older hdd yet either...

 

Re: reloading windows

I did not change the cable when I installed the hard drive. I only plugged it in place of the existing cable. I'll give that a try. Thanks! ohh yeah - what do you think of loading windows on the hard drive in another machine then installing it in the computer? do you think that would help? (a friend suggested that)

 

It may, but you would have to carry out a repair and it probably won't boot till you do.

A different machine contains different hardware and settings, so once it's set up and you put the drive in an alien environment, it doesn't have the correct drivers etc.

Again, not ideal, but more than possible.

 

Re: reloading windows

XP, unlike 98 has what's called a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) This is software that windows builds as a buffer between the OS kernal and the hardware. The hal that is developed during the install is based on all of the hardware that you have and if you install on one machine and change to another, the HAL is entirely wrong.

The windows installer also creates a unique security identifer, called the SID. This doesn't like to transfer to another machine, either.

Microsoft makes a utility called sysprep which OEMs and admins use to strip the installed OS of the HAL and SID so that an image can be made of the drive and deployed to multiple computers. However, these computers are always identical clones bought or sold as a group. Sysprep has a steep learning curve, and there are three versions of it so you have to have the right version. (one for 2000, one for XP home or pro without SP 2, and one for home and pro with SP2.

In your case, if indeed your processor or mobo is bad, nothing else will work until that is fixed.

I didn't word my last comments well (typical of me!) so, with the above in mind, here I go again: Your computer will complete the post, indicating that the core hardware is OK. It will format the HDD. All of the mobo channels for that process must be OK too. However, at the moment setup tries to read, from the CD, and analyze your hardware for compatiblity and to record to the HDD that info for later building that HAL, it balks.

The error message is off the wall, which isn't uncommon when the error is caused by an uncommon event. By off the wall, I refer to the cpu completing the post, and then you getting a cpu error. Your mobo supports only certain cpus, and it has the right one, and it is far advanced from an 80486.

There appears to be some connection, some channel on the mobo that has an open circuit or a short. It is independent of the channels needed to POST, because bad ram, etc., even a bad keyboard would stop during the post. The succesful POST says that it's not the video, ram, etc. etc.

The error shows that the hardware can "all" run, but it can't exchange a necessary piece of the data across some part of the mobo at one point. A reasonable guess would point to the North Bridge because that's where the hardware most likely affected would be.

In sum, no it takes a very detemined and exerience person to use an XP OS in one computer when it was installed in another, both having different HALs. Sometimes it can't be done even then. But, with a hardware problem in glaring evidence, what good would it do even if it were an easy, common practice?

An advantage a shop would have would be spare parts. They'd swap out the cpu, and then the ram, and the video one at a time to prove it wasn't them (or was) and then narrow it right down to the broken part. You are limited to symptoms.

 

Sysprep is pretty useless a lot of the time because it has limitations and specific requirements.

A repair is simplier, somewhat similar and easy.