Xp Installation Loop

[DeadOnTheHead]

I am installing win xp on a friends computer. The installation should be straight forward. However as the install moves along, I have encountered something I have not seen before and can't find anything on google about.
The install starts ok, but after windows copies files to the computer and it shuts down that first time to complete the installation. It starts the install process over. And this happens everytime. It's just in a loop. I have tried the install using both a home and pro disk and it does it on both.
I will add that as it starts back up. It displays a boot menu, Boot from CD/DVD or Hard drive or network. I have tried every option here in as many ways as I can think of. Any time and in any way when I use the hard drive option I just get a flashing curser and nothing happens. If I choose the network I get the same flashing curser. If I choose DC/DVD it loops back through the installation proccess. I am getting nowhere.

[willmon18]

Do you remove the cd when it completes the installation process. Because if you have your bios set a certain way the cd will just boot after so long and it will start the installation process all over. When the installation is complete and it restarts remove the cd and then let it boot.

[DeadOnTheHead]

I have not removed the cd. I will try that. Any other ideas if this don't work.

[DeadOnTheHead]

This time I removed the CD and it did the same thing. I just get a flashing curser. Could the problem be in the bios. I have looked but nothing stands out.

[willmon18]

Do you have more than one hard drive installed? If so it could be tring to boot from a differnet one than the one that windows is setup on. If so try to install it on the primary one the C: drive. When the installation pops up and says which one you want to put it on put it on that one. If all else fails contact microsoft about the issue.

[hwm54112]

Download the drive manufacturer's utility, make a bootdisk and repartition and format the drive. Simply stated, the install went bad (stuff happens) and you need to start with a clean drive, otherwise, it will stay in the loop.

Drive utilities

[DeadOnTheHead]

There is only one disk in this computer. I have also repartioned and formated the drive using the xp disk and I am still getting the same thing.
Everytime it reboots it starts transfering the files again. I have at this point tried everything I know to do.
There has to be something here but I just am not hitting on it.

[whodat]

use 1 ram stick, and make sure the timing isnt too aggressive in the bios, you might need to take it off of spd and manually slow the ram down.. until the op system is up and running.

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

What motherboard and hard drive (type and brand name) are we dealing with on this one?

[hwm54112]

Originally Posted by DeadOnTheHead

The install starts ok, but after windows copies files to the computer and it shuts down that first time to complete the installation. It starts the install process over. And this happens everytime. It's just in a loop.

I have also repartioned and formated the drive using the xp disk and I am still getting the same thing

Boot from CD/DVD or Hard drive or network. I have tried every option

The reboot isn’t the issue, the install loop is. The only way to resolve this issue is to set the drive up outside of windows, using a manufacturer’s utility. Here’s why:

Basically, when you boot to the install cd, windows loads all drivers into memory, scans the system, finds the drive and looks for the MBR and you are given options to setup the drive. Setup then writes a permanent boot.ini to control all subsequent boots, copies temporary setup files and writes a temporary line to boot.ini that directs the next boot to complete the setup routine. Setup then reboots as it is supposed to, reads boot.ini and is directed to complete the setup. Setup completes, temp files and the temporary line in boot.ini are erased and you should have a working xp install. In this instance, setup went south for whatever reason, and the temporary files and boot.ini line were not erased. As such, on every boot/reboot boot.ini tells setup to install files. The only way to stop the loop is to setup the drive using the manufacturer’s utility and get rid of boot.ini. Windows/windows setup can’t do it because boot.ini always takes control of the boot process before windows is started. It doesn’t matter if you boot from cd or hard drive. Setup reads the MBR, then looks at boot.ini and boot.ini tells windows for what to do next.

While a hardware issue, as Who and TU36 have indicated, could be causing the reboot, the original post indicates the original reboot was probably appropriate. And hardware would be a seperate issue. For purposes of my discussion only, reboot is totally irrelevant. Who and TU36 know that better than I. However, until you address the bad boot.ini, you’re never going to know. First fix the drive, then address hardware with WHO and Tumble

Hopefully, this is what your not hitting on. Similar situations are very common because people don't realize the significance of boot.ini, when it is written and that it totally controls the boot process

Post back and let us know what's up.

Bill

[n00gz]

yea my mate is having the exact same problem, it occured after a FUBAR xp install and ever since it just runs the initial diagnostic and sytem file copying procedure then resets as normal but then runs the same procedure over and over again.

is it possible to use the fix/MBR command in the recovery console to clear the boot record

Going Insane..

[hwm54112]

fix/mbr won't work because the mbr isn't damaged. Boot.ini is causing the problem. The "bootcfg" command in recovery console might work but I kind of doubt it because you never had a good working boot.ini to begin with, only a temporary one for install purposes only and that is the one causing the reboot. It may be possible to use the "rebuild" parameter. If not setting up the drive with the manufacturer's utility, not windows, is the probably the only way to get rid of the reboot