strange problem installing XP SP2 (dual boot w/vista64)

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

I have Vista 64 installed and wanted to install XP on another partition for doing side work (pretty much so I don’t have a bunch of games and other stuff installed on the same system to muck it up).

I split the primary partition with Vista’s disk partitioner, created a new disk and formatted it in a NTFS. I restarted the machine and booted the windows install disk. I picked the partition to install it to and it starts copying the temporary files to the hard drive for the install and once complete asks to hit [Enter] of wait 15 seconds to restart the machine.

On reboot though, after it asks to “hit any key to boot from cd-rom”, when it would normally start the GUI based part of the setup it doesn’t do anything. It just sits at the DOS screen asking to hit a key to boot from the cd-rom, but 3 or 4 ANSI type colored squares show up on screen (the size of a normal “character”). The computer isn’t locked up though… the underscore after the “boot from cd” text is still flashing and I can CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot just fine. If I try hitting enter or something though, it doesn’t do anything as far as booting the cd (actually, nothing happens)

I killed the partition, created a new one and tried re-installing like 3 times and does the same thing every time. Does anyone have any ideas? I got fed up and just fixed the /boot and /mbr through the console and went back to vista for the time being.

My system specs:
DFI P35-t2rl BloodIron
Intel C2Q 6600 @ 3Ghz
4Gb G-Skill ddr2 800mhz
nVidia 8800GT 512mb
WD 500gb sata HDD

I can honestly say that this is the first time I’ve ever had a problem with XP. Vista installs and runs just fine though, odd (both 32 and 64). I did a search online and couldn’t find anyone that had the same problem.

2

Improperly setup/corrupt boot.ini file?

3

doesn’t XP write over it though after it copies the initial setup files?

4

steve use fdisk for that shit, best partition utility, fuck that gui shit within windows.

and make sure those partitions are active, if they are not active they wont boot.

5

well, at first I used the GUI based tool in vista.

the other 2 times I used the one built into the XP setup program (which I assume would turn into the primary partition). This has always worked with past systems, so not sure why it’s giving me a problem now

6

I didnt say primary, i said ACTIVE

lol

7

lol either way, wouldn’t XP’s setup take care of that? How can I check? The partition shows up fine in vista and the XP setup partitioner

8

Is it possible that it doesn’t like the nVidia card for whatever reason? That was my first thought, but who knows.

Is there a way to install XP via a DOS based GUI opposed to the fancy gui?

9

i dunno i never use those to dual boot, i use fdisk and make 2 partitions both active and bootable, you can grab a HDD utility and make sure that the MBR isnt fucked up either.

grab hirens boot disk, lots of good HDD utilities on there.

10

thats not it i dont think, its the partion im thinking, but who knows without actually seeing it.

11

I’ll give it a try, it’s worth a shot at this point. If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d just format the whole disk, install XP, then vista

12

thats what i would do, i get so sick of shit i cant figure out i just reformat and reimage.

lol im lazy, got my drive in steve so im gunna reformat and get the raid going then i can do your xbox

13

cool, thanks kevin :tup:

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yeah also, let me know about that other stuff too, im out.

15

np man

16

you two could have basically had an IM conversation in 1/2 the time.

17

IM ports blocked at work

18

lol unblock them, edit the hosts file :slight_smile:

19

lol I value my career

20

well you were right kevin. Installing now. I’m surprised it didn’t give an error message about it. Thanks again