out of ideas (OS install problems)

[Racter]

ok im gunna make this short tried typeing it once but it didnt work (hope it dosnt show up later lol)

about 2 weeks ago my computer stoped showing a picture

almost 1200$ later and its still not working new computer almost other then the sound card, ram and power suply lol..

im stuck trying to install windows xp pro sp2 (wich i had to buy a second time :P)

anyways here are my specs

AMD Athlon XP 2700+ (underclocked it for now with all these problems to 2500+)

MSI K7n2 Delta2 motherboard

Rosewill 512 DDR400 ram (4 months old)

Evga e-GeForce 6600 GT graphics card

Hitachi 80GB HD

Sony Dvd/CD combo 16X/48X

350W powersupply that came with the case :P

anyways my main problem is that windows installer gets stuck on the screen right after it finishs loading all the hardware files and gets ready to start the actually installing the OS to the computer. It gets stuck on "Setup is now starting Windows"

also another little thing is that the computer cant restart by itselft if it trys the picture wont show up and i have to shut off power turn it on then shut it off again and then turn it back on to get picture. sounds like my powersupply is dieing... just want to know what you guys think i mean hell ive bought a new computer in the last 2 weeks so i dont understand whats going on (is it normal for the screen to stay on "Setup is now starting Windows" for more then an hour? lol.

thanks sorry this is so long

Racter

[Zxian]

A faulty power supply would end up causing your computer to restart at random or not start up at all. This doesn't sound like it's the case for you.

You best bet is to try installing Windows with only the bare minimum hardware. That is:

Motherboard
CPU
1 stick of RAM
1 Hard drive
1 CD-Drive
Video Card

Anything and everything else should be disconnected. If you're still running into problems, the next part that I would replace is the video card. It could be that you got a bad one, in which case, it should be replaced under warranty.

Why did you have to buy Windows XP for a second time? I've rarely heard of a new copy of XP failing to install. It's moreover a case of hardware incompatibility. If you can, talk to the people at the place where you bought the copy of XP and see if you can get a refund. Explain the situation to them. Depending on the store, they might be friendly.

[Racter]

Ok i was messing around with it and got it to get past the "Setup is starting windows" screen all i did was change my bios to fail-safe bios ... lol

NOW after i accept the user agreement and it trys to find any other form of windows (and it dosnt of course) i go to confirm the install but for soem reason it cant read the windows xp disc?? whats up with that i tried putting in my old cd-rom and it does the same thing. tried cleaning the disc still nothing

btw the reason why i had to buy xp again is because i have a black hole in my house and it was sucked up inside of it (... for real i tore the house apart 2 days strait and couldnt find the damn thing)

[Racter]

well i tried running the optimized bios and it has no problems restaring or getting past the "Setup is starting Windows" screen but it still dosnt recognize my windows xp disc as a windows disc, the motherboard can find the dvdrom but it dosnt seem like its reading off it asks me to put in a windows disc (98/me/200/xp ect.) and i put it in hit enter and it does nothing... just asks again for the windows disc

[Racter]

ok lol im an idiot i didnt notice i bought the upgrade version of xp this time so all i had to do was put in win 98 disc so it knew i had an old version of windows then i got past that screen and now its loading win xp yaya!

BTW i cant edit this thread title sorry so if you want to lable it fixed for me thanks... lol

Racter