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Blank screen - cannot reach setup screen in XP installation

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15 replies

by sweeetsteve 1 view

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I am attempting to install Windows XP SP2 on a Dell Latitude D820.

The BIOS is configured to boot from the CDROM drive, and the notebook picks up the CD - it displays the following:

"Press any key to boot from CD..."

I press a key and it is followed by the following:

"Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration..."

After a few seconds the message disappears from the screen and the drive appears to stop spinning. It does not get to the blue screen where it says "Windows Setup", etc.

I know it is not a fault with the disk as:

- I have installed Windows XP on the same machine to create a virtual machine (using VMware), and
- The CD works on other PCs, including my other Dell notebook.

The machine currently has a Linux installation on it and I need to dual-boot as Windows does not run effectively enough under VMware.

Any ideas?

15 replies

by older mycroft

Before deciding that it has crashed?

If the hardware configuration is being inspected what makes you think that requires the rotation of the disc?

So, how long have you let it go before calling time yourself?

by mr.finance.meister

Were you able to find a solution? I have Ubuntu and Win XP (crap OS) in dual-boot with Grub.

by mrusev

I had a ntfs partition and three linux ones. Try removing the boot flag (from within cfdisk) from the ntfs partition and start setup again. If this doesn't work just delete the ntfs partition and then everything should be ok... :)

by smay1

got the same issue going here. Just have single operating system. Clean new hard drive. Used XPSP2 boot disk then tried XP1, same issue. Seen this before a while back so just swapped machines and thought this would work but didn't help. Everytime I start XP setup after initial copying of Windows setup files on disk setup would reboot then blank out at the time setup was to continue. Everything running but no screen. Deleted NTFS and recreated partition, made it active, also tried to fix mbr of disk; all these changes and setup would start again anew but after copying same initial files would reboot to a blank screen. Know this isn't a CD disk problem, have tried 3 different XP setup boot disks, have tried two different machines, so has to be hard disk problem, like hard drive can't retain the boot info. Next will try a low level format on drive even though chkdsk reports no bad sectors and other drive software examines hard drive and reports no problems. Looking for answers first before low level format and found this post.

by techdavis

If you have access to a working computer, create a BartPE boot disk with your copy of Windows. http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder Then, boot to BartPE, and go to Diskpart and clean the disk(s). This will remove the unreadable partitions on them, and allow setup to start normally.

by smay1

Isolated blank screen problem to single drive. New drive was 250GB so first tried making drive primary master, primary slave, secondary master, secondary slave and XP boot disk would still blank out when setup started. Changed video in bios and video card just in case video issue. No jumper configuration changed drive being seen. Also changed bios settings for hard drive where possible and no change. Installed another 250 GB drive and this drive worked with same XP boot disk, no problem. Compared BIOS settings of both drives and only difference noticed was the Ultra DMA 6 mode was on the drive that could be seen whereas Ultra DMA 5 mode was on 250GB drive not being seen. So far have not gotten first drive to be seen but my blank screen problem is hard drive not being able to been seen by XP setup.

by yisaam

Thanks mate. Your post was such sweet relief.

by 3xp3rt

My suggestions are:
1. boot from Linux install CD and delete the Linux partitions. After this you can install Windows XP.
2. Verify if you don?t need a SATA driver floppy to install Windows XP. Press F6 to install SATA driver.

by ryno

Hi thanks i think that can work i only have one problem, my linux cd does not prompt me to delete the partition, i dont know linux so do you maybe know how to do it?

Thanks

by Former member

(scroll down to skip this babble and get to the solution)

I work in a PC repair shop, and an OLD laptop came in (Toshiba Satellite 2695CDT *groan*) that had the EXACT same problem, and was even able to run the XP setup as long as the hard-drive was not plugged in, not that this helped much though, lol. The laptop was running XP and needed a hard drive upgrade. Now, the laptop was made bought in 1999, so I figured the new hard drive I was installing needed new drivers or something since it was a pretty big HD for PATA (320G) and the laptop was old. But alas, still no go!

What I eventually did to fix it though, was first install Windows 98 (find the .ISO or bootdisks online) and use the product-key" VP9VV-VJW7Q-MHY6W-JK47R-M2KGJ. Don't worry, that's not an illegal key, Microsoft no longer supports Win98 and has provided that key as a "generic" key that will work for all CDs and almost encourages public distribution.

After installing Win98, insert the XP CD and run it from inside Win98. From there it should be smooth sailing. I even tested to see what would happen if I tried booting from the XP-CD now that Win98 was installed, and guess what? IT WORKS! If you choose to "boot-install", simply install as normal, delete the Win98 partition, and begin to install XP.

Note: When/if XP installation asks for Win98 disks again, simply insert your win98 CD, the computer will probably reboot back into XP installation, then ask you to put the XP disc back in.

Hope someone benefits from this information! Good luck!

by alexf1972

Hi
I had the same problem couple time and now i know how to resolve.
In my case, i had 250g hard drive. So, i connect it to another computer and make a smaller primary partition (150G). Then, went back to original computer and start xp installation. And now it went through.
i hope it will help you

by fizixrichard

I know this is an old thread but I had the same issue this morning as described here when my primary HD blew so tried to install Windows on a secondary HD; I also resolved it and the method may be useful as it was quite simple.

When I switched the drive windows XP install would hang on a blank screen.

It turns out it was hanging because the SATA drives settings in the BIOS were incorrect.

The issue was that LBA was disabled, I enabled LBA and presto, it worked.

So might be worth checking the drive settings if anyone else gets this problem.

by oh smeg

Perhaps asking a question yourself with all the details would be better than posting to a 3 year old question. ;)

Col

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