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Screen shuts down during Win XP Install......

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13 replies

by angiep010

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Ok......I'm new here so I hope I'm doing this right. I just bought an old Dell Inspiron 7000 notebook for my 11 y/o son. It came clean with no OS on it. I have tried to install a new version of Win XP and everytime it gets to the Installing Devices screen it gets about 2/3 of the way done and the screen goes black and it won't do anything. I have ran a UBCD and DBAN and they both came back successfully with no errors but the problem is still there. Does anyone have any suggestions.....I am at my wits end on this one.

13 replies

by nicknielsen

It's possible that you have only 32 MB of RAM installed. XP requires at least 64.

I've seen Windows XP on the Inspiron 7000. It ran reeeeeeeeal slooooooooooow . . . .

by pennatomcat

I can safely say that you are essentially restricted to Win98 (preferably the SE version if you plan to tie it into a network) or one of the TINY Linux distro's.

by angiep010

yes, I have now figured that out.......thank you for your advice...I guess I wasted my money on xp and now have to buy a 98 version.

by desiuny

I'm having the same problem and now i'm trying to install Windows 2000 but i don't know how, did you installed 98 and how??

by robaaa18

I am typing this reply now on an Inspiron 7000 running XP. It installed and runs fine, although this one does have 256mb ram. And set to the classic theme, XP doesn't even feel slow for most usage.

by alxcsby

Everyone's already nailed the low memory, but that's the first problem to address.
You might try putting a Win2K on it and then upgrading to XP, though I think you'll hit the same problems, sometimes an upgrade is a little easier.
I would suggest getting Linux, you could probably find a version of Redhat that would do nicely. You might also consider shelling a little for RAM.
Hope it helps,
-A.

by nicknielsen

If she goes Linux, I'd recommend PCLinuxOS or maybe Kubuntu. Neither is a memory hog and both can be configured to strongly resemble Windows (for the diehards, y'know! :D ).

by willitho

The problem is really very easy to fix its a problem with the laptops internal and external switching system for screens when a external monitor is pluged in and a laptop is booted up a internal switch opens and tells it to close the laptop screen and use the external monitor to view with problem is when you are in the process of installing a clean o/s that does not happen hence the laptop if it is on its on screen shuts down as it cannot work out what screen it is using all you have to do to work around this for xp and 2k just for the install of said o/s is plug in external monitor use that to view with and to do all the tasks with after you have installed the o/s and set everthing up unplug the external and reboot all will be well with the laptop on its own screen
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by billsinmail

Hi Angie, I was trying to look up the same problem as you are having with the xp installation and I am having the exact same problems you seem to be having. My install seems to get to 34% everytime and then my monitor will shut down but my cd light is still on and the tower is lit up so I know its not my tower shutting down. Its just the monitor and I have tried 2 different ones but still same troubles so I am wondering if the problem might be in the bios settings because like i said its just the monitor that shuts down during the winxp install. If you seem to come accross any help please post so I can try anything to solve and complete this install. Thank You . . .

by billsinmail

Im sorry but above I stated that my winxp install gets to 34% but its not 34% it is 34 minutes left of the install....

by matobinder

Did you ever find anything out on this? I just put together a brand new computer, 3.0Ghz, 2 gigs of ram, and XP SP3 install CD just gets about to "34 minutes left" and just shuts off. Its driving me nuts. I succesfully installed a version of Ubintu and Fedora Linux on this machine and they work fine. So I don't think it is a hardware issue.

I tried a XP SP2 and XP SP3 CD. The basic XP CD freaks out immediatly as it doesn't like PCI X

by rmohr

I was getting the same exact problem, installing XP SP3 on a Dell Inspiron 7000 Laptop with 256MB, 6GB disk. After about 15-20 min, the screen would go blank and the XP install would not continue.

After I flashed my bios from A10 to the latest A15. It worked!

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