Here's a weird one

[Ronin]

Today, I got fed up with the Windows Vista RC-2 on one of my machine.  It was working just fine.  But it's so slow that I really can't use the machine.

So, I decided to reinstall Windows XP SP2 on it.  I booted from the XP SP2 install CD and removed the Vista partition and recreated a new partition.  Then I let the installation proceed to thoroughly format the hard drive NTFS and install itself.

It gets through the file installation to the hard drive and goes to reboot itself.  Up comes the "Windows XP" logo screen with the little blocks running from side to side.  The little blocks make two passes.  On the third pass the machine locks up.  It will NOT continue from there.

I tried the above procedure three more times.  Exact same result.  I tried turning off interfaces (internal audio driver, internal network, usb ports, etc.), disconnecting the floppy drive and second optical drive.  Exact same result.

I tried installing DOS on it.  It worked just fine (made sure to do "fdisk /mbr" first).  After that I tried XP again.  Same lockup problem.

I installed Windows 98 SE on it.  Worked fine.  Tried XP procedure again.  Same lockup problem.

I'm installing Windows 2K Pro right now (still formatting hard drive).  And I will see first if that works and second to see if I can install XP over that.

Up until four months ago this machine was running, you guessed it, Windows XP Pro SP2.  The _same_ OS that won't install, now.  It was running Windows Vista Ultimate just fine (albeit pretty slowly) when I started this so I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with the hardware.

Hardware specs:

Intel D865PERL motherboard.
Intel Northwood 2.8Ghz processor (no HT)
Two 512MB sticks Kingston DDR400 RAM
nVidia (ChainTech) GeForce 6600
1 Maxtor 120GB hard drive
1 Lite-On CD-R/RW/DVD-ROM drive
1 Pioneer DVR109 DVD-R/RW drive
1 Sony 1.44Mb floppy drive
Antec SmartBlue 350W power supply

Mobo has built-in audio and 10/100 networking (both were working). No onboard firewire or video.

System is not overheating. (CPU and ICH heatsinks are warm to the touch but not hot).

I must stress again, that this machine was working perfectly with Windows Vista Ultimate installed.  I can install DOS and Windows 98 SE and it works fine with both of those.

I might not even be able to re-install Vista on it.  But I'm thinking Vista did something to this hard drive that is giving Windows XP a problem.

[Dr.Jeckyl]

do you happen to have an xp install that doesn't have sp2 on it? if so try that. also, you said that the machine had xp + sp2 on it but didn't say if it was the same install disc that was filing.

if all else fails, try a slipstream install. is the tool to use to create such a disc.

[Ronin]

Yep, it's the same install disk that's failing.  XP Pro with SP2.

I haven't tried XP Pro without the service packs.  And I don't want to.  It would take a couple of hours to get it updated with the service packs, updates and fixes.

I got Windows 2000 installed, though.  It's installing SP4 right now.  Once I get this updated with video drivers I'm going to make a Ghost image of it then try installing Windows XP Pro SP2 again.

In the mean time, I used the XP Pro SP2 cd to install it on an older machine here (Intel D845 with 2.4Ghz P4, 120GB Maxtor, 512MB, GeForce 5200) and that worked fine.  So I'm fairly sure it's not the CD.

[Lazerblade]

Had this same issue a while back,but I think it was actually with Win2K, not XP. I could be wrong. Anyway, what I did was removed all partitions, created a single partition, then let the installation format the disk for NTFS. Sometimes resident partition information can cause lock-ups. Worse case scenario, try formatting the hard drive on a different machine, or even install XP on the hard drive using a different machine then transport it over. I'm pretty sure there's a way to do that without requiring the authentication process to be done twice or whatever.

[Ronin]

The Win2K install went without a hitch.  I did a bare install from my original Win XP Pro SP1 CD and that went fine.  So I burned the SP2 slipstream CD I made and tried that.  That worked fine, too.  One works and the other doesn't on that machine.  Just for fun, I did an installation on my PIII box using the disc that wouldn't work in the P4 box I was having trouble with.  That went fine.

I pitched the CD anyway.  The new one doesn't have any scratches on it, yet.  I'm wondering if the fact that the install CDs that I burn are CD-Rs makes a difference.  The die supposedly fades in them over time.  But I could read all the files off that CD and pull the ISO image using ISO Buster with no problem.  I just couldn't install XP on _that_ machine with it.  Maybe it's the combination of that DVD drive and that CD.

At least my problem is solved.  Thanks, guys!!

[Ronin]

Bah!!  We hates Microsoft.  I didn't realize when I did the last install that it's SERVICE PACK 1.  I burned the wrong CD.  I just tried it with a newly burned Windows XP SP2 image and it did the same thing.  Soooooo.  I pulled the Windows XP Professional SP2 CD from my MSDN OS cds installed that.  Same fricking thing.

So I developed a cunning plan.  I installed Windows XP Pro SP1 again then downloaded and installed SP2 from Microsoft on the machine.  When it started to reboot.  It hangs.  Right in the little blocks going to the right where it says Windows XP.  There's something wrong with this machine.  But I don't know what it is.

But I'll bet that if I install Windows Vista back on it tomorrow, it will work just fine.  I'm not going to fiddle with it anymore tonight.  I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

[xXxander]

I've done the same thing before  I think you'll find 95,98,mill,and ,2k all run off fats 32, XP,and above use a diff format [which conflict] You will need to do a complete fdisk with  one or the other :hmm:

[Ronin]

I've done the same thing before  I think you'll find 95,98,mill,and ,2k all run off fats 32, XP,and above use a diff format [which conflict] You will need to do a complete fdisk with  one or the other :hmm:

I've fdisk'd this machine about 20 times already.  I've even used partition magic on it to be _sure_ there's nothing left from any other OS on the drive.  It even works just fine with Windows 2000 Pro or Vista Ultimate using NTFS file systems.

I reinstalled Windows Vista on it last night.  It worked fine.  The only OS that won't run on this stupid box is Windows XP Pro SP2.  Even SP1 works.  But it will _not_ run with SP2 installed.  At least I can't install SP2 on that machine and still boot it up.  I have no idea why.

I'm installing XP Pro SP2 on that drive in another machine with the same mobo and processor (different video card, cpu, ram, etc.) and will see if I can just transfer the drive back to that machine.  It's already gotten past the initial reboot with no problems.  If I can't transfer this drive back to the other machine, I guess I'll just reinstall Vista on it and continue to use it as a test bed.  I'll probably install Vista on it when I get the "release" version from my MSDN anyway.  I just hope I don't have any problems like this with that. :roll:

[Dr.Jeckyl]

bah, go ... i just got a free p3 machine today that's going to get it installed on it this week. WEEEEE!!!

[Ronin]

I'm pretty sure the processor might is the problem.  I've swapped everything else out in the machine and it still wouldn't run XP SP2.  When I swapped the P4 2.8Ghz processor from another machine to this one, it works with XP SP2.  But I need that machine running XP Pro SP2.  It's my file server.

I might try the CPU transplant and try to install Windows Server 2003 on the file server machine.  If that works.  Then I can use the CPU that will run XP in this machine.

[MindlessOath]

ya sounds like hardware. it was running slow using vista, mabe its the hdd or processor - i would have looked at memory first!

because one works and xp doesnt, doesnt mean anything. i see stuff like that everyday and usually its a hardware issue.

[Ronin]

Well, I'm finally done with it.  I switched processors between this machine and the file server.  They're both 2.8Ghz Pentium 4 533Mhz bus Northwood processors.  The file server is running Windows XP Pro SP2 on an Intel D865PERL motherboard.  The processor that wouldn't run XP SP2 is working fine in that machine running.  The processor that was in the file server is now in this test box and is running fine with Windows XP Pro SP2 on it.

I had already tried swapping out nearly every other component in this machine and it still wouldn't run XP SP2.  With all the original hardware back in it and the CPU from the file server (which has the same motherboard and the same 2 Kingston DDR400x512s) it works fine, now.  It's the oddest thing I've seen in 23 years of doing this.

Just to verify that it's the processor combination on this machine I swapped the CPUs back and it stopped working.  When I swapped them again, everything works fine on both machines.

I know it's not a heat related issue.  I use Zalman solid copper heatsinks and my processor temps never get above 105F.  The support chips never get above 90F. And both processors and motherboards have the same model numbers.  I just can't think of a reason why one combination works and the other doesn't since the components _should_ be indentical.  Even the BIOS revisions are the same.

Now that everything's working, I guess it doesn't really matter anymore.  But it took a rather strange journey to get here.  I just have to remember that some combinations work and some don't.