PROBLEM SOLVED!

Hi,

Not sure what the problem was or where it lay, but it working perfectly fine under TinyXP Rev 06.

What I did was I changed out the hard drive (which wasn't the problem I guess) and changed the CD-Drive (which still wasn't the problem).
After the blue setup screen, it came to a blank black screen.

"What the hell?"

So I restarted and (upon the tips of others) entered the BIOS and changed the CPU settings from 'Compatibility' (or whatever) to 'Normal'.

Suddenly, it starts installing, and I cross my fingers...


WOOOHOOOO!!!


----------[Problem Solved]-------------

Hi,

New user here, hope you can help! But let's get straight to it, and diagnose this damn problem!

So I get a used computer from University. Looks fine, so I get home to find that the Hard Disk that came with it clicked like an African tribesman, therefore I figured it can't be working so I replace it (it said "SATA Device 0 Not Found" upon booting anyway, so it must have been fried).

I used my 250GB from my working PC (which is still fine), and attempt to install Windows XP SP1 (a Dell CD that came with this used Dell from University). My first attempt is when it turns to ****:

1. Attempt #1
   It takes forever to copy the files (the blue with yellow-status bar thing), then once it gets to the Windows XP "Installing Windows/ Finalizing Installation", I have to go to sleep overnight, only to wake up to "14 minutes remaining". Once I get home from Uni, it actually is sitting at the home screen, "Bliss" calling to me, however; it's G*D-DAMNED SLOW AS HELL. 10 seconds for start menu, and menus and application windows hang around like a wafting egg fart.
   
   So I format and re-install.
   
   
   
2. Attempt #2
   I think it may be the CD, so I go with 'Tiny XP: Rev_06' (don't tell Bill). I try to install that, but when it has finished copying all the files (by this time, I've swapped out the CD-ROM drive to my one which seems to make a better copying speed difference), it comes to a black screen with a mouse pointer (and stays like that for I-don't-know how long), and once I come back it has an error that it can't find one file or the other, then opens a dialog box with various errors... maybe I should have written them down.
   
   The weird thing is, is that the same combination of hard-drive, CD drive and Tiny XP install CD worked FINE on my other computer (took about 30-45 minutes).
   
   
   
3. Attempt #3
   I'm now trying to install another Windows XP onto an old 20GB drive (not that old), and intially, it said "NTDLR" is missing. So I asked Google what the hell that was, and long story short, I used a floppy boot disk that had it.
   Now it's started up, taken FRICKIN' ages at the XP Screen (the one with the pretty little load bar at the bottom), and has now come to the official Windows XP install screen (the "39 minutes" etc remaining one).
   
   Problem is that it should really say "142,024 minutes remaining" the amount of time I've been waiting for it to change from 39 minutes remaining!! And once it finishes, I'll have little left but to doubt that the Operating system will be EXTREMELY slow, a la my last installation.

I've searched Google for similar problems but none seem to be working; if all else fails, it may have to have a new motherboard.

I've tried the Hard Drive, CD-Drive, and Windows XP CD in another PC and those are all fine.

What should I try next?



My specs are:

PC: Dell Dimension 4600 (looks like it was bought in 2003 from this receipt I have from Dell)
Motherboard: [Unsure] but it is Dell with BIOS Revision A02
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 Processor 2.66Ghz/2.8Ghz
RAM: 512MB (2x256) 333Mhz DDR SDRAM
GFX: 64MB DDR nVidia GeForce 4 MX Graphic w/TV Out

Well, I'll try copying this message to other forums. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

And thanks if you read the whole thing

There are many causes of long installation. For one,it might be the media, or its the CD drive itself, hardly able to read the file, second you should have formated the harddisk(not quick) so as to tag those bad sectors, it takes many attempts for the installation software to copy the files.

Most likely your problem is cause by a faulty memory(intermittent soft errors) in the upper region. Try to boot on a diskette & run a mem diagnostic, I think that old pc still have a working diskete drive. Tiny XP work because it does use much memory like the full XP.