XP install problem...
 

ok, im not new to installing XP_SP2, i probly did this like 50 times already but now im stuck, my other computer as we speek is currently installing XP_SP2, it says Installing Devices, but that is as far as it goes, normal it will pop up a window to make me setup my network config stuff, but it doesnt, it gets suck at the 'installing devices' part, this is after the copy and reboot part of the install, anyways i decided to remove all cards, (sound, NIC, and extra ROM drives), i figured it couldnt install one of those devices for some reason, anyways started back the install and still the same problem, i tried different XP CDs, and its the same thing over and over....any1 can help out here what should i do? (July.31.06 @ 245am, computer still TRYIN to install device for 1hr now)

I did installs b4 on the same computer with the same hardware and no problems b4....why now?

if u have any hints or comments just let me know, i dont know what to do anymore...:dunno:

It could be a bad hard drive. Scan it for bad sectors with powermax from maxtors website it well tell u

X2 happened to me...was bad sectors on mine..

im working on it now, the powermax didnt work for me because i have a western digital drive........im going to try to run a check disk to fix any problems, hopefully it would work after that....thanks for you inputs ill let u know how it goes, im still open to more ideas if any1 wants to add....thanks

try fdisk?

okie i got it fixed, what i was trying to do was a system repair, and it stalls at 'installing devices', i did the chkdsk and all that and everything was good no errors, nutting, but still the problem was still there, so i decided to do a semi-fresh install, i started a new windows install but did the install that leaves the files and folders on the system, so no formatting is done. this worked, why? i dont know, what is the difference? they both have to do the 'install devices' part...? anyone?

I had a similar problem before, fixed it with a new hard drive.

nah well i still needed that data on that drive anyways...so that wasnt really a option

The reason it may have worked with the install without loosing the data is that if there was a Driver that the system needed (IDE Controller, BIOS Settings, etc.) that you already had on the system, it may have been able to locate them better. the Win XP SP2 upgrade does not look in any other directories other than the default system directories for installed hardware components. It will still prompt if it cannot find the driver for something like a soundcard or a video card, but compoents such as IDE Controller if the SP2 install cannot find them it will hang.

Another reason could be that with the install being run from windows the system can run tools such as scandisk to check the drive to repair any bad sectors, etc.

The second sounds more like the likely answer through, and I agree that Bad Sectors can cause a multitude of headaches when trying to upgrade windows.

mft might be fragmented to the point of being a paper weight. executive diskeeper will allow for mft defragmentation and or expansion in order to deal with strain and then itll prompt for a reboot and chkdsk

i was going to say it could be a memory issue, but i guess not. thats a weird outcome to that problem