laptop - reformat - vista -> xp - BSOD - ??? (1 Viewer)

[Jago]

Okay so recently I bought a Compaq Presario c774 notebook with vista home basic as its OS. I have a copy of XP handy so I decide to reformat etc etc.

First I tried putting in the CD while the comp was on and the install xp option was grayed out. So I left the CD in there and restarted the comp and format that way.

Everything up to the EULA screen screen is fine (according to all the format guides online) but then the following comes up:

"The following list shows the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on this computer.

blah blah blah up and down arrow keys blah blah blah."

Inside the box it says:

"Unknown Disk

<There is no disk in this drive.>"

When I press enter (or up/down) I get the BSOD saying:

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

blah blah blah.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0xF75D0CAD, 0xF71937E4, 0x00000000)

*** setupdd.sys - Address F75D0CAD base at F75A4000, DateStamp 48025277"

I've tried going into BIOS and checking boot options and boot order which states the following order:

atapi cd/dvd-rom drive
usb floppy
notebook hard drive
usb diskette on key
usb hard drive
!network adapter

I've also done a memory test in disagnostics which showed no problems.



halp?

(since I don't understand any technical computer talk I would appreciate it if you could dumb down your replies, thanks)

 

[me121]

hmm.. i'm not to sure what you can do, but are you sure the CD is not corrupt..?

 

[Jago]

I've put the CD in my old computer and the install xp option wasn't grayed out

 

[me121]

I've put the CD in my old computer and the install xp option wasn't grayed out

i'm guessing that's because you weren't using vista on your old computer.

but if you can get that far on your disc, and your installation is crashing at that stage, then i doubt it would be the cd.

 

[darkwolfzx]

find a disk partitioning tool like a gparted live cd, boot off that, use it to wipe the drive clean,

then do your xp installation again.
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

 

[Jago]

assuming I use this cd, and the xp installation fails again would i end up with a laptop with no OS?

 

[emytaylor164]

just put vista back on it then or a linux system

 

[darkwolfzx]

assuming I use this cd, and the xp installation fails again would i end up with a laptop with no OS?

yes you would. Consider backing up, or source another xp image from questionable sources.

 

[Jago]

i dont have a vista cd. and i have 2 xp cds from questionable sources.

eh 90mb download. im capped, any other suggestions that won't require downloading?

 

[emytaylor164]

did you have a restore CD or something?

 

[Jago]

when i bought the laptop i wasn't given a vista cd

 

[Jago]

so should i just get someone from a computer repair shop to do it?

 

[darkwolfzx]

sure why not? Safer to get someone in the know to do it for you.

I did my friends laptop once, works like clockwork

 

[ogmzergrush]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315335&sd=RMVP and http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-1899579.php seem to suggest that it *could* be hardware related, and possibly either incompatible or faulty RAM.

First of all, operating on the implication from there that the problem is RAM basd - As far as I can see the standard RAM configuration for that machine is 1gb, which should not be problematic for installing XP. With that said, I've often read about people having funky RAM-related problems while trying to install XP.

I can't remember if when we talked about this we establshed the RAM was 1x1024mb stick, or 2x512mb sticks, but one option may be to open the additional RAM module slot and remove the second stick (should it be present). However, if it happens to be empty, and the RAM is actually 1x1024mb , this won't help...

Here is a step by step guide to accessing the RAM module in your laptop. It really is a simple process, and despite what the knuckle draggers here will tell you, is something you can do without a lot of fuss.
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01118662.pdf

So once you open that up, just remove any stick which is present. If the problem continues, or the slot is empty, then an additional memory stick is not the cause. In this case, I'd recommend double checking that the partitioning process went smoothly, and then as a last suggestion for this post, moving on to running some checks on the installed RAM to ensure that it is fault-free (though you've already run the diagnostics on there with no faults, there are more exhaustive tools available).

With the partitioning process, as far as I can see you've managed to complete that successfully using the XP cd? Assuming the problem isn't an additional RAM stick screwing things up for no reason at all, I was wondering if the problem you're having might be from a left-over recovery partition on the drive (fairly standard for laptops, and could cause bluescreen shens when it attempts to read the partition table). To ensure that this is *completely* gone (you don't need it), I'd recommend downloading http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ and just following the prompts to run an fdisk. It's a little difficult to talk you through this one without knowing exactly what it's going to show up, but basically just follow the prompts and remove *all* partitions which it shows (you can't hurt anything doing this). After this, you can then attempt to format again with the XP cd, and hopefully wind up with one functional partition, without dramas.

In the event that it's still no good, I'd double check the RAM for faults. For testing that, I usually recommend http://www.memtest.org/ . Download ISO, burn to CD, reboot and wait for a while. It's pretty simple, and just allows you to be double-sure that RAM is not the issue here. Personally I wouldn't suspect it at as a cause, but if the previous two thoughts haven't helped then it's worth checking out, if only to eliminate it.

On a side note, people who are posting and attempting to help should try to restrict their "solutions" to those which correlate with the request being made. Someone who says they aren't a computer genius and who says they *do* want to run XP isn't interested in installing Ubuntu, and you're a fucking retard for suggesting it without any prompt to do so aside from your own agenda.

On the idea of taking it to someone for (paid) help, I'd suggest saving that for a very last resort. Worst case scenario here, you get stuck and need to "obtain" a Vista cd to put things back to roughly normal, while learning a few things along the way. Best case, you fix it all yourself, get XP, learn some cool shit, and save some money.

 

[Jago]

As ogmzergrush said before, it was fixed by disabling the native sata support. I have xp and everything works.

Thanks anyway.

edit: heh, too late