Need Help

Ok, so i installed 7 on my laptop and had absolutely no problems. So i decided that i wanted to try it out on my gaming rig. Everything was fine besides certain graphics and sound problems, but hey, its a beta and drivers arent to great for it yet.


This past sunday i decided to go reinstall XP, and ive had NOTHING but problems. Every time i try to install it, i get a blue screen at one time or another. Ive tried everthing short of throwing the machine infront of a train.

Ive tried 5 different CD's, including an original (i have a license but there are certain installs that i like so i use those). I ran Memtest and that came out fine. I tried a spare cdrom i have and that didnt work.

I troubleshooted everything to the best of my ability, and no matter what i cant get XP in my machine. Mind you, the computer has had 0 problems before this, so the changed variable is Windows 7.

Now... heres my question, is there any chance in hell that from installing 7 could be preventing me from installing another OS? Some kind of bug i havent heard about yet?

Thanks for any help!

-- Oscar

I tried that. Ive tried a Quick format and ive tried the Sllllooooowwwww one, and nothing.

Ive been thinking of trying a low level format.

I did the low level yesterday to no avail. I'm really stumped here. anyone got any suggestions.

There's a couple things you can try. I have VistabootPro 3.1 (free) or EasyBCD (free) either will allow you to remove the mbr thats not allowing XP's to load. I've used both and reinstalled XP Pro with no prob's. Worth a shot, hope this helps.

1Bowtie

Thank you, I will give those a try today after work.


One thing that i forgot to mention (pretty dumb of me) is that the reason i cant get XP installed is because im getting BSOD's. Either right after loading before i can delete the partition and setup the partition(thats with an original) or with the burned copy that i like, it gets all the way to installing the OS but towards the end it BSOD's.

The way ive been able to format has been using a CD my father gave me called Hirens, which has a MiniXP on it.

Hi Oskiee

If you have a working os use these prog's from within there, open, out the mbr for Win 7 or Vista because they take on the dominant mbr and will not let you load XP until they are gone.

Even after a format?

i dont know that a low level format (even if some manufacturers provide some capability softwares on their web sites) was such a hot idea. usually if you have a drive that needs to go that way, its easier to throw it away because it's going to cause you grief long term. that is not the case here.

go easy bcd for now, there are tutorials on the internet for that but you shouldn't need one. remember that win7 hides a partition (200 mb?) on you. you need to be sure the system is ready to recieve the new install which right now it isn't. the low level format...don't be doing that again....ever.