Computer locks up Installing WinXp

P4 1.7GHz Socket 423
Mb ECS p4vxms version 1.0
512 Mb ram
This is a used computer and attempting to reload WinXp Pro. Prior to
attempting WinXp the system was working however it had a lot of
garbage from the previous owner so I thought I would wipe it and
start fresh.
However the computer locks up while in the installation stage.
The lockup seems to be random as to where it stops working. However if
I am quick in enter response on the computer, it does seem to get
further into the installation.
However I never can get to the end where it is fully installed.

As an experiment, I open the case and had an external fan bellowing
into the case, this seems to help the situation.
I was able to get to 38% of coping the files before it froze up.

Any ideas as to what to look at to cure this problem?

Therefor I believe it maybe something is over heating and shutting it
down.

"tiyogi" wrote in message
...
P4 1.7GHz Socket 423
Mb ECS p4vxms version 1.0
512 Mb ram
This is a used computer and attempting to reload WinXp Pro. Prior to
attempting WinXp the system was working however it had a lot of
garbage from the previous owner so I thought I would wipe it and
start fresh.
However the computer locks up while in the installation stage.
The lockup seems to be random as to where it stops working. However if
I am quick in enter response on the computer, it does seem to get
further into the installation.
However I never can get to the end where it is fully installed.

As an experiment, I open the case and had an external fan bellowing
into the case, this seems to help the situation.
I was able to get to 38% of coping the files before it froze up.

Any ideas as to what to look at to cure this problem?

Therefor I believe it maybe something is over heating and shutting it
down.


To me, the symptom sounds like bad RAM or bad power supply. If the symptom
truly changes just by opening the case, then this would seem to support bad
RAM. Heat can exaggerate symptoms of bad components. -Dave

In article , tiyogi says...
P4 1.7GHz Socket 423
Mb ECS p4vxms version 1.0
512 Mb ram
This is a used computer and attempting to reload WinXp Pro. Prior to
attempting WinXp the system was working however it had a lot of
garbage from the previous owner so I thought I would wipe it and
start fresh.
However the computer locks up while in the installation stage.
The lockup seems to be random as to where it stops working. However if
I am quick in enter response on the computer, it does seem to get
further into the installation.
However I never can get to the end where it is fully installed.

As an experiment, I open the case and had an external fan bellowing
into the case, this seems to help the situation.
I was able to get to 38% of coping the files before it froze up.

Any ideas as to what to look at to cure this problem?

Therefor I believe it maybe something is over heating and shutting it
down.

Blow all the ****e out from inbetween the vanes on the CPU heatsink and
make sure the CPU and chipset fan are working.

--
Conor

I'm really a nice guy. If I had friends, they would tell you.

Earn commission on online purchases, £2.50 just for signing up:
http://www.TopCashBack.co.uk/Conor/ref/index.htm

"tiyogi" wrote in message
...
P4 1.7GHz Socket 423
Mb ECS p4vxms version 1.0
512 Mb ram
This is a used computer and attempting to reload WinXp Pro. Prior to
attempting WinXp the system was working however it had a lot of
garbage from the previous owner so I thought I would wipe it and
start fresh.
However the computer locks up while in the installation stage.
The lockup seems to be random as to where it stops working. However if
I am quick in enter response on the computer, it does seem to get
further into the installation.
However I never can get to the end where it is fully installed.

As an experiment, I open the case and had an external fan bellowing
into the case, this seems to help the situation.
I was able to get to 38% of coping the files before it froze up.

Any ideas as to what to look at to cure this problem?

Therefor I believe it maybe something is over heating and shutting it
down.


I'd try putting another OS on there (like some little Linux install) and
trouble shoot from there. If it wasn't overheating before, it's probably
not doing it now. A good cleaning never hurts. Clean the optical drive
too!

I've had similar problems due to boot sector viruses. If the machine had
quite a lot of junk on it that seems more likely to me.

Can you change out the hard drive? Get a fresh one and look at/format the
old one from elsewhere?

~e.

disable onboard audio and lan - install XP - then enable and install the on
board peripherals

"tiyogi" wrote in message
...
P4 1.7GHz Socket 423
Mb ECS p4vxms version 1.0
512 Mb ram
This is a used computer and attempting to reload WinXp Pro. Prior to
attempting WinXp the system was working however it had a lot of
garbage from the previous owner so I thought I would wipe it and
start fresh.
However the computer locks up while in the installation stage.
The lockup seems to be random as to where it stops working. However if
I am quick in enter response on the computer, it does seem to get
further into the installation.
However I never can get to the end where it is fully installed.

As an experiment, I open the case and had an external fan bellowing
into the case, this seems to help the situation.
I was able to get to 38% of coping the files before it froze up.

Any ideas as to what to look at to cure this problem?

Therefor I believe it maybe something is over heating and shutting it
down.

Have you run Memtest86 on it to check that the RAM is good? I would
try that first. I have had problems similar to this and it turned out
to be RAM errors.

Good Luck,
James

I just experienced this EXACT problem!
XP hung at install, just after having loaded the files and drivers that
it needs during the installation.
(It hung at the message 'Starting Up Windows' which is a part of the
installation process, about 10% into the installation.)

Since I had just got a new hard drive, I was convinced that I had done
something wrong with the setup of the drive.
(I ran fdisk, formatted the drive, changed all the Bios settings again
and again.....Arrrgh! :-(
In fact, there was even a message at bootup saying 'invalid drive'.

Eventually I decided I had tried everything and decided to get another
drive. I went to a shope called Barkman's Computers in Kingston on
Thames. I got chatting to the owner and he suggested that I take off
the hardware hardware components one by one and keep trying.
He said 'It is NOT your drive, there can't be anything wrong with it, so
I won't sell you another drive...!'
(Cool guy - he knew what he was talking about!) He said 'It's got to be
the RAM or the PSU.

I didn't see any logic in that at all, but I followed his advice and...
it was THE RAM !!

It turns out that Bios, disk utilities etc don't care if you have put in
a stick of RAM a bit wrong. They just ignore that stick.
But Windows hangs in the middle of the installation.....

Windows is always giving messages about things - here is a time when it
would really have been really helpful.
Instead it first gave a misleading message, and then nothing at all.

I would never have guessed that it was the RAM. I can only repeat the
advice that I got. Try to strip out as much hardware as you can and
start the installations from a 'bare'board.
Jo






When I did, I found that it was an incorrectly


tiyogi wrote:
P4 1.7GHz Socket 423
Mb ECS p4vxms version 1.0
512 Mb ram
This is a used computer and attempting to reload WinXp Pro. Prior to
attempting WinXp the system was working however it had a lot of
garbage from the previous owner so I thought I would wipe it and
start fresh.
However the computer locks up while in the installation stage.
The lockup seems to be random as to where it stops working. However if
I am quick in enter response on the computer, it does seem to get
further into the installation.
However I never can get to the end where it is fully installed.

As an experiment, I open the case and had an external fan bellowing
into the case, this seems to help the situation.
I was able to get to 38% of coping the files before it froze up.

Any ideas as to what to look at to cure this problem?

Therefor I believe it maybe something is over heating and shutting it
down.

I definetely concurr with the bad ram idea as stated by Dave, as file
would probably cause at least one bank of RAM to fill, and if there
are errors in that bank...well um...ya

exactly as I thought, the RAM...