xp home setup is cycling...wat to do?

[blogger]

foxconn motherboard 512 megs ram-pentium 2.66 mhz processor-xp home os

this computer is a medion and is abt 3 years old. i am trying to do a clean install because it was going slower and slower.
here is the prob. the original hard drive is a seagate 120 gig. a friend gave me a xp pro disk w/key. it installed w/ease. when i tried to use microsoft update, it failed the verification test. i found my original win xp home os disk. i started the install and loaded files, then it said i need to format. so i did.

after the format completed, it restarts. when is does, it says press any key to boot from cd. but pressing a key starts right back at the beginning again!!  i put a 20 gig seagate in and xp installed fine. then i put back the 120 gig and it is cycling again.

i tried numerous attempts with no luck for two months. my apologies up front if the answer is already posted, i couldn't find it. a solution would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. oh, i also deleted the partitions and created only 1 partition before the format. does anyone know how to stop this cycling. ps the disk is good, because i did a clean install with it a couple years ago w/ no probs.

[Peccavi]

After first restart [size=14]DON'T [/size][/b]push any button to boot from CD. It will continue itself. It just detects CD Rom and urges you to boot from it like a first time. But After copying files when it needs to restart within 15 seconds don't touch anything and let it boot from Hard Disk...

[GX1_Man]

if the above simple answer doesnn't work, then delete the  partition and recreate another, format that and off you go. Be sure and use your own XP CD.  

[Backdated]

As GX1_Man says, start again from scratch by deleting all partitions and using your own CD. Do not connect to the internet until you have adequate protection in place. This should be of some use to you.

[MASH]

foxconn motherboard 512 megs ram-pentium 2.66 mhz processor-xp home os

this computer is a medion and is abt 3 years old. i am trying to do a clean install because it was going slower and slower.
here is the prob. the original hard drive is a seagate 120 gig. a friend gave me a xp pro disk w/key. it installed w/ease. when i tried to use microsoft update, it failed the verification test. i found my original win xp home os disk. i started the install and loaded files, then it said i need to format. so i did.

after the format completed, it restarts. when is does, it says press any key to boot from cd. but pressing a key starts right back at the beginning again!!  i put a 20 gig seagate in and xp installed fine. then i put back the 120 gig and it is cycling again.

i tried numerous attempts with no luck for two months. my apologies up front if the answer is already posted, i couldn't find it. a solution would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. oh, i also deleted the partitions and created only 1 partition before the format. does anyone know how to stop this cycling. ps the disk is good, because i did a clean install with it a couple years ago w/ no probs.

What happened with the Medion restore program?

[blogger]

big THANKS to Peccavi, GX1_Man, Backdated and MASH.

I know a clean install is a last resort option. my system restore had become corrupted.

when i am prompted to 'hit any key to boot from cd, i waited and it remains in that state. it says press ctrl,alt,del. if i wait two hours, nothing happens. then when i press ctrl,alt,del, the cycle begins again. i even used a seagate utility and ran a zero-fill. it took a long time, but no luck. same thing. at first i had created two partitions and when that wasn't working, i tried one big partition.  and yes, i am using my original xp home disk. i slaved this hard drive to the 20 gig that loaded ok and it shows the hard drive has a lot of files left on it. zero fill is a misnomer.

i have to go to work, but will check after work for any additional ideas. thanks so much.

[Backdated]

If you think that you were infected before, try not to have any old files on the system when you reinstall. If files are present, there's a good chance that you'll reinfect yourself during the installation process. Remove any slave drives temporarily until setup is finished and your AV and other security software is installed and updated.
If you want to completely remove all partitions, there's a self extracting bootdisk image available here. Extract it and run the executable with a diskette in the drive. Boot from the resulting boot diskette and run Delpart. Now boot from the WinXP CD and set up as normal.

[blogger]

thank you backdated. the delete partition utility worked ok, but unfortunately the recycling problem still exists. i am beginning to believe that this 120 gig seagate may be unsalvagable. the original xp home op sys loads files, allows me to accept the user agreement. then it says a format is necessary. i tried both the quick format and the long format. same thing. after the formats, the sys says is going to restart and the cycle starts again. i spent  five hours last night using quick format, long format, deleting partitions, creating partitions, etc etc.

perhaps if someone could steer me to a true harddrive eraser that will absolutely erase all data on the disk, it could be saved. otherwise it's just a paperwieght. again, thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts.

[Backdated]

Download SeaTools Desktop Edition. After accepting the EULA and inputting some information (Which I generally falsify), you will be offered the choice of a diskette image or an ISO image. If you have a working floppy drive, choose the diskette image.
Make the diskette/CD, boot from it and run the diagostic tests.

[Fordtruckmaniac]

blogger

I realize this may not help your situation at all. But I found this very helpfull for my first XP Pro install.


http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdoldhdd/indexfullpage.htm

[blogger]

thanks to backdated and ford for the additional input.

due to time constraints i am going to have to wait a couple days to solve this problem. i had run seagates utilities in the past and the diagnostics indicated there may be a problem with the hd. but i didn't take it seriously, because i was able to load the xp pro op sys with no problem after those tests.  that is where i got the zero-fill pgm.

within a week i should be getting a new 80 gig maxtor and i expect the original xp home edition op sys to load with no problem. i just don't want to toss this 120 gig seagate out hastily without making every effort i can to save it. in view of that, i am grateful to all of you who posted and welcome any other solutions our readers have to offer. i promise to keep everyone informed as time goes on. i have a good feeling about computerhope and know that fifty heads are better than one. lol

[GX1_Man]

i had run seagates utilities in the past and the diagnostics indicated there may be a problem with the hd. but i didn't take it seriously, because i was able to load the xp pro op sys with no problem after those tests.

So you already had the answer. Work and work correctly are two different things.  

[Backdated]

It would have been much easier to diagnose if all the relevant information was provided.

[blogger]

sorry backdated and gx.  my bad.

i pulled another working seagate from another computer, (8.5 gig),  set it as master and put it into my medion. it is cycling  exactly the same way that the 120 gig seagate did.

i'm going to go to staples and buy a new maxtor right now. if it accepts medion's original xp home, i will  slave the 120 gig seagate to it. hopefully i will be able to delete its files and use it for storage.