windows xp help

Alston518 · 28 Mar 2011

ok i am trying to fix a friends laptop that had a bad hdd. i got a new hdd and need to insall windows xp on it. I originally tried to install it via flash drive, because the laptop is an acer asprire one, with no cd-rom drive. I did that, but during the install, it skipped a bunch of steps and when it was done, i had nothing at all, no wifi, or anything on my desktop. So now i am trying to burn a bootable disc and install it that way. the way i am doing this is by hooking the hdd to my desktop computer and installing it via the bootable disc. whenever i try and do it, i get a screen that looks like this......

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i thought that maybe something was wrong with the copy of xp that i had, so i got another copy of xp and got the same thing. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? The hdd i am using is for a laptop, and i have it hooked to my desktop, if that matters at all.

gregrocker · 28 Mar 2011

If you install on another machine you'll have to run a Repair Install when you move it back to the target machine, so you'll need the CD drive there anyway. Can you temporarily move your OD to the target machine?

Verify your ISO is intact, then burn CD using ImgBurn at 4x speed with Verify.

Alston518 · 28 Mar 2011

gregrocker said:

If you install on another machine you'll have to run a Repair Install when you move it back to the target machine, so you'll need the CD drive there anyway. Can you temporarily move your OD to the target machine?

Verify your ISO is intact, then burn CD using ImgBurn at 4x speed with Verify.

alright so you're saying that if i do it this way, when i put the hdd back into the laptop, i will basically have to re-install it?

i did get it working on the flash drive before by using a program called wintoflash to get the program on the flash drive and make it bootable. the only problem was when it istalled, it kept giving me error messages saying it was skipping all these different files. Do you know of any reason why it would be skipping tons of files during setup?

gregrocker · 28 Mar 2011

I have never gotten XP to install correctly from flash stick. I gave up about the time it XPired anyway.

Have you considered running XP in virtual mode from Win7? Use XP Mode included with Ultimate, or free Virtual Box, Vitual Player, or VM Ware in the others. And you may be able to get XP programs to run in Win7 using Compatibility Mode

If you must have XPired then I'd move your OD over to the target machine to install with Verified CD.

fafhrd · 28 Mar 2011

It is not easy to install XP via a USB drive to a netbook.

I have done it once - first I needed to disable the AHCI SATA mode on the BIOS - the other alternative is to install the SATA drivers during the installation - but Intel kindly provide these as a floppy drive image for my system - which of course is not available on my netbook either!

I used Novicorp WinToFlash which worked partially, but discovered a workaround, which I hope I can remember.

Following the WinToFlash wizard, you end up with a 1GB (or larger if you wish) flash drive which boots, runs the text-mode XP setup and then reboots to the GUI setup. I made sure that all the manufacturer's XP drivers for chipset, ethernet and wireless, modem and graphics, plus a copy of 7-Zip were saved on the USB too.

After the first reboot, I found I then had to remove the USB drive, so that the boot would continue from the hard drive, and then reinsert the USB drive to continue the installation.

That's it. Installed the drivers and there were no great problems really.

pricetech · 28 Mar 2011

A USB ODD is probably your best bet. I'm assuming, as apparently are others, that you are using a legitimate copy of XP.
Also, you will have to install drivers for your hardware once you have XP installed. Manufacturer's website is your best source for those.

alphanumeric · 28 Mar 2011

You can start the install on one machine and then move it to the final PC to finish the install. If you use the syspart command the install will start on one machine and then give you the chance to move the drive just before the part where it detects hardware and installs the drivers. Have a look at this; Using Syspart on Computers with Dissimilar Hardware
It talks about windows 2000 but I believe it also works for windows XP etc. It's a little bit of work but should give you the best odds or a good clean install and likely easier than trying to install XP from a thumbdrive. I've tried that may times and never got it to work. I haven't tried syspart myself, I never had the need to go that route.