XP installation HELP~!

dayofdefeat909 · 06-19-2006, 07:34 PM

hey, i have a dell inspiron 8600 and i just reformatted the harddrive, it's NTFS, only deleting the main drive partition, as reformatting is not possible without doing this. i am trying to reinstall XP professional from the OEM cd but it won't work. i've tried two approaches.

the first approach, i booted from the cd-rom drive with the OEM XP cd in the drive and this seemed to work well until windows began to install itself. a message box pops up saying that i need to insert the 'windows XP service pack 1 cd' (which is the exact label on the OEM XP cd) and when i click ok, it then says 'cannot find the file "asms" please specify the location of this file'. i'm tried chaning the drive letters and some other random lines i know are associated with installing programs. windows does not install because this message cannot be resolved. if one cancels, a log window pops up saying there has been a fatal error and windows cannot install because it cannot find the right files (namely this asms thing?) after vainly trying to resolve this myself, i called dell support and they are convinced it is a problem with the cd-rom drive. the techie suggested i boot from the cd-rom drive using an XP home cd (i have a older desktop with XP home on it). althought it was an XP upgrade only cd, he suggested that it should boot up for XP home installation and that because it doesn't boot correctly, the cd-rom drive must be bad. i've never had an problems with the cd-rom until now. it should be noted that everytime i restart the computer, the goes back to the same screen in the widows installation screen, and it continue's to say "insert win XP professional sp1 cd blah blah can't find file 'asms' please specify". so everyone knows, i don't believe dell tech support that the cd-rom is busted because to actually reformat the haddrive, i had to book from the win XP OEM cd in order to get the reformat options.

my second plan. after running around the forum here, i picked up another strategy. i read conflicting reports that win XP home/pro can/cannot be booted from the cd-rom so i made XP boot disks (there are 6) after being directed to www.bootdisk.com. these boot disks worked fine and a different windows load screen appeared, more of the classic two-tone type, but it continues to think that the windows XP cd is not in the right drive. after loading all the files needed from the boot disks, it just blicks 'insert windows xp professional sp1 cd and push enter to continue"

i am open to anything that might help. feel free to email me at deas187@yahoo.com with any and all suggestions. thanks for the help!

chauffeur2 · 06-19-2006, 08:02 PM

G'Day dayofdefeat909,

Try this and see if it does the trick......

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311755/en-us

Post back.

Regards,

Dave T.

06-19-2006, 07:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
dayofdefeat909 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 11 OS: XP	XP installation HELP~! hey, i have a dell inspiron 8600 and i just reformatted the harddrive, it's NTFS, only deleting the main drive partition, as reformatting is not possible without doing this. i am trying to reinstall XP professional from the OEM cd but it won't work. i've tried two approaches. the first approach, i booted from the cd-rom drive with the OEM XP cd in the drive and this seemed to work well until windows began to install itself. a message box pops up saying that i need to insert the 'windows XP service pack 1 cd' (which is the exact label on the OEM XP cd) and when i click ok, it then says 'cannot find the file "asms" please specify the location of this file'. i'm tried chaning the drive letters and some other random lines i know are associated with installing programs. windows does not install because this message cannot be resolved. if one cancels, a log window pops up saying there has been a fatal error and windows cannot install because it cannot find the right files (namely this asms thing?) after vainly trying to resolve this myself, i called dell support and they are convinced it is a problem with the cd-rom drive. the techie suggested i boot from the cd-rom drive using an XP home cd (i have a older desktop with XP home on it). althought it was an XP upgrade only cd, he suggested that it should boot up for XP home installation and that because it doesn't boot correctly, the cd-rom drive must be bad. i've never had an problems with the cd-rom until now. it should be noted that everytime i restart the computer, the goes back to the same screen in the widows installation screen, and it continue's to say "insert win XP professional sp1 cd blah blah can't find file 'asms' please specify". so everyone knows, i don't believe dell tech support that the cd-rom is busted because to actually reformat the haddrive, i had to book from the win XP OEM cd in order to get the reformat options. my second plan. after running around the forum here, i picked up another strategy. i read conflicting reports that win XP home/pro can/cannot be booted from the cd-rom so i made XP boot disks (there are 6) after being directed to www.bootdisk.com. these boot disks worked fine and a different windows load screen appeared, more of the classic two-tone type, but it continues to think that the windows XP cd is not in the right drive. after loading all the files needed from the boot disks, it just blicks 'insert windows xp professional sp1 cd and push enter to continue" i am open to anything that might help. feel free to email me at deas187@yahoo.com with any and all suggestions. thanks for the help! Last edited by dayofdefeat909; 06-19-2006 at 07:36 PM. Reason: new title

06-19-2006, 08:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
chauffeur2 Manager Emeritus Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 10,180 OS: Xp Sp3 with all updates + Vista™ Ultimate SP1. My System	G'Day dayofdefeat909, Try this and see if it does the trick...... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311755/en-us Post back. Regards, Dave T. __________________ Dave T. Submit New Articles If it works, Don't fix it! Especially if Bill Gates had anything to do with it!!