cant install windows xp

[rjwoodie]

hey there every i have a compaq tower S3050AN that im trying to install windows xp pro on and im having some fairy big issues with.
went im not booting from cd it will come up saying ntdlr or something is missing.....
whenim booting from my cdrom ad tring to install windows xp it will come up saying after accepting the licence agrement that setup cannot find a previous version of windows installed on your computer. to continue, setup nneds to verify that you qualify touse this upgrade prioduct.
then it lists all the different operating systems then asks you to putthe cd in thedrive and press enter which i do and iget the same thing.
idont understand why im gettring the message as this disk has worked fine on tis machine befor and all my other machines.
any help i can get wuldbe awesome thanksyou.

[hot dog]

Does you installation CD give you an Option to "Repair" Windows, with Recovery Console?

[rjwoodie]

hey there.
yea it does but when i hit r to go to the recoveryconsole jack *censored* happens

[rjwoodie]

sorry im being to vague.
chuck my windows cd in, its a formatted drive too by the way, reboot then hit key to boot from disck.when you hit r for recovery console it just comes saying that setup cant find a previous version of windows........

[JJ 3000]

Sounds like your hard drive is dead or dying. Do you hear any clicking when you try to access it?
Try a different data cable.
Run hard drive diagnostics
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

[rjwoodie]

yeah i have to wonder if its the hdd or the bios.
reason for this is its happening on two hdd's which are the same make and model and in the same towers which are the same make and model as well, iv done memory tests on both ram's and that comes up fine as well.
iv d/c all the hardware and tried to reinstall again and get the same message all the time....setup cannot find a previous version of windows installed on your computer. to continue, setup needs to verify that you qualify to use this upgrade product.

[rjwoodie]

i was ment to say also that iv already run a diagnostic utility on one of the hdd's and it came up with a bad sector in the write area.
havent done a diagnostic on the second one yet but surely it cant be that. theywere running fine as befor

[JJ 3000]

Sounds like the first drive is fubar.
Run diagnostics on the other one.
Try a different data cable.

[rjwoodie]

right here is the story.
i just dne a diagnostic on thesecond hdd.
using ESTOOL
Write Verify Fail.
Service Code =>AJ36 : Bad Sector.
Error Occurred Test Loop Number 1

i reallycant understand how anerror could be in this hdd as well. it was working fine this morning befor i formatted it.
the other hdd is theone with the problem so i cant undersand why this one has suddenly packed up.

[JJ 3000]

Try a different data cable.

Check out the link I posted. Find the brand of hard drive and download the diagnostics tool from the hard drive manufacturer's site to create a bootable disk. Boot to that disk and test the drive.

Good luck!

[rjwoodie]

oh ok so you dont think ESTOOL is goin to test it correctly?
i dont have another data cable and cant really get one either.
cheers for your eh

[rjwoodie]

ok here is some weird crap for ya.
my original  xp cd got badly damaged so i made a copy and have used that copy to do formats and reinstalls on many of my computers.
this copy has stopped working the last couple of weeks on this tower and the other im working on.
how ever i just about ten minutes ago found another old copy of xp pro sitting in a folder and chucked that in the disk drive on the off chance that it mite work.
and guess what???!!!!
its formatting and reinstalling now as i type this message.
can you please tell me why my copied disk has stopped working after all this time?? and why another copied disk is now doing the job?
keep in mind though that the copied disk has worked without fail for a long time. no scratches or smudges on disk

[Quantos]

Any disk that you burn has a light sensitive dye on it that is affected by the laser in the optical drive.

They fail over time, how fast you burned the disk and stored it will affect how long it lasts.

[rjwoodie]

ok thank you for that.
my copied disk is as far as i no in good working order.
whenit woudnt work i went back to using the genuine disk.
even that woudntwork for me.
so any otherideas?

[Quantos]

The optical drive itself could be bad, is there another drive that you can install and test with?

Optical drives are pretty cheap now, about $20.00, but I don't like telling people to spend money if they don't need to.