[NATOStallion]

Hello guys ok i brought a new hard drive for my laptop and also a copy of windows xp pro sp3 when going thru the installation of the OS i got this error:

in the blue bar of the window it says:
c:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe

and in the box underneath it says:
windows cannot access the specified device,path, or file. you may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.

i can not do anything apart from hold the power button in to restart.

so i restarted the whole process however its now not booting from the cd it goes straight into "setup is being restarted" and tries to continue with the installation but keeps going back to the error.

things ive tried:
boot from cd
safe mode
another copy of win xp (but wont boot from cd)
DBAN but wont run from cd.

So the main thing i need to try and do is wipe the hard drive clean without windows and without booting from cd. is this possible? any other ideas and solutions would be much help thanks.

 

[TheGift73]

Are you able to boot from a USB stick (check in BIOS, most modern motherboards can)

If you are able to, try creating a bootable USB stick using WinToFlash. It's a pretty simple procedure and may be a work around for you. If you do use this, just remember that when it's done installing and wants to reboot for the first time, that you either remove the USB or change the boot order back to HDD as first boot other wise it will just try to restart the process again via the still inserted USB. I use the program quite a bit as a useful workaround for notebooks or PC's with faulty CD Drives.
During the install process, you are also given the choice to format the disk as well using the NTFS file system (a quick or long one I believe are the choices.) and then carry on.

The reason this may work is due to you having issues with the CD Drive? You tried 2 different XP Disks and also tried to use DBAN via CD and all have failed, so a USB install might work.

You can also run DBAN from a USB as well. Here is how it's done. Remember though, DBAN will wipe the USB as well via autonuke, so remove the USB after DBAN has finished loading but before it starts wiping. Also, remove any attached devices when you wipe as you don't want to wipe anything that you don't want to. The program will look for all attached devices and try to wipe, so be careful.

 

[spunk.funk]

Boot into Setup (Bios) and change the Boot Order to CD Drive First boot device. Put in your XP CD and reboot and you should see the message Press Any Key to Boot From CD. Delete the Partition, and Format the Partition NTFS and clean the disc with a dry lint free cloth and Install Windows.

 

[NATOStallion]

thanks guys i tried bith ideas however my dell inspiron 8200 is unable to boot from usb so thats out of the window i still keep going into the installation.

I thought of an idea if i get a 2.5 to usb would it be possible to connect the hard drive to my computer and then format the hard drive that way?

 

[spunk.funk]

Boot into Setup (Bios) and change the Boot Order to CD Drive First boot device. Put in your XP CD and reboot and you should see the message Press Any Key to Boot From CD.

Yes, remove the HDD from the comptuer and attach it to a USB Adapter plug it into a working computer go to Start/Run and type diskmgmt.msc and press enter. In the Disk Management you should see your now external drive, here you can delete the partition, create a new partition then Format it NTFS, then put it back into the troubled computer. You still need to be able to Boot from a CD to Install XP, following the steps in the quote above.
You can change the Boot order in most Dell Computers by pressing F12 at Bootup.

 

[Wrench97]

What model Dell there may be a setting in the bios to set the Sata controller in IDE or AHCI mode, set it IDE mode to install XP without the additional Sata drivers.

 

[NATOStallion]

ok ive ordered one so will let you know how i get on and my dell is a inspiron 8200 laptop