Tech Support Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Win XP setup stops at "inspecting the hardware"

6K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  Wrench97 
#1 ·
Hi!
I have a Dell Latitude D505 laptop. The hard drive died, so I am trying to replace it with a new 320 GB Western Digital hd. I do not have the Dell Restore disks, so I tried to use the Windows XP installation disk...and the problem occurred. I boot from said disk, and all I get is the message "Setup is inspecting your hardware configuration". And that's it!!! The installation doesn't go any further. BUT, if I remove the hard drive from the laptop, the setup works untill it has to let me know that it could not find the hard drive.

Also, I ran the diagnostic available by pressing F12, and it can find the hard drive, which passes the test.

How can I fix this problem? Any help will be very much appreciated!!!
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the response!! I really appreciate it.

The OS I want to install is Win XP SP 2, retail disk. About particioning the hard drive, I actually tried that already, making three partitions of 100 gb aeach (I connected the hard drive to another laptop via USB). I formated them using NTFS, and still the setup freezes as soon as the "setup is inspecting your computer hardware configuration" message disappears, leaving a blank (black) screen.

Just for a test, I'm thinking about buying a smaller capacity hard drive (not cost effective, though, for the bigger the drive, the cheaper the gb) of a different brand. Do you think I should do it? Do you suggest anything else for me to try?

Once again, thank you so much for your help.
 
#5 ·
Ok!! I'm back!!

Correct!! The D505 uses an IDE hdd. I tested the old hard drive in another computer, and there is no doubt it is dead.

I bought another hard drive, 160 gb Western Digital -same brand as the one that I am trying to install- installed it, and guess what: IT WORKS!!!
The hard part was to return the 320 gb drive that I first purchased. It's a mistery to me why the setup did not go through, if said hdd was working just fine -I know that for sure!!-.

I have solved my problem, but I still would like to know what happened. I do not think "Windows just didn't like that hard drive" helps much in my attempt to know more about computers. So, if somebody knows, or have any ideas about what was the cause of the problem, I would really welcome any feedback.

By the way, I have been reading other trends, and I JUST LOVE THIS FORUM!! There are tons of information!! You guys are great!!!

Thanks a lot for the help!!!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top