Win XP Pro wont install...

[nitan]

Hi guys...i need a spot of help...heres the story:

1. Flatmates machines was using Win 98 SE as far as i know. He decided that it was time for a change to XP. So went into DOS and "nuked" his HDD.

2. Now he uses an XP Pro disk to install.

3. Install starts well, get to enerting name, language settings etc.

4. Install proceeds and gets to "Installing Network"

And thats it, that is as far as it gets, just sits there...has not crashed as the little "lights" in the bottom right continue to flash away. Also if i take the CD out and palce it back in the drive the pointer changes to denote that the CD drive is being read from...i dont understand what is going on. Also we have tried removing the network card and modem, but it is still not getting past this point in the install. So i had a plan, get 98 back on ther for now and then install XP over the top to see if that helps. BUT not a chance, the HDD is now NTFS and the XP boot loader thing wont let me change it back to FAT32, none of us have 98 boot disks to convert it to FAT32 either so we are a bit stuck. I dont know where to go from here, i am sure that i can solve the problem but i dont have time to sit there and work it out at the mo as i am in the middle of my part II exams. Any help would be much appreciated, i dont understand y XP wont let me format to FAT32. Also y wud it stop at "Installing Network" the only thing i can think to do for now is to partion his HDD into 3 drives and try installing on each one in turn to see if it is a problem with the HDD...as i say any help appreciated...thanks guys....

nitan:)

[sptw]

Hi Nitan.

From NTFS to FAT32 you have to erase the Master Boot Record(MBR).You didn't tell us what brand is the HD of your friend, but you can do this: go the manufacturer'site and try to seek for a utilities that can do this.Most of them offer this utilities.For example, for IBM Hds you have "Drive Fitness Test" with an option named "Erase Bootsector utility".There are another way too, that i think is so easy to do.Make a startup diskette with win98.Boot with this diskette.When you get A:>, type exactly in this way:
Debug (enter)
F200 L200 0 (enter)
a100 (enter)
mov ax,301 (enter)
mov bx,200 (enter)
mov cx,1 (enter)
mov dx,80 (enter)
int 13 (enter)
int 3 (enter)
(enter again)
g=100 (enter)
q
Yes, there's a space between the numbers and letters.After a100, you get some hex dec numbers, don't worry about it, only type on blinking cursor ok?And don't be afraid about this little lines using assembler, it only write 0(zeros) on the first sector 0f your HD.After all of this, your friend is able to install XP with FAT32.

I hope this help you.

[nitan]

hmmmm...will try that out, but surely deleting all partitions and then re-creating them will delete the MBR??:confused: ?? well i dont have time for this right now as i have exams...my housemate will have to wait till sunday when i get some time...

nitan:)