Trouble after installing windows from usb-stick

[Ryder17z]

Well, sometimes we either want or have to make a reinstall of windows, but it didn't tun out as I expected..

I have searched for answers, but not found any yet..

Lets continue; I don't know if I or the tools made something wrong, because:
1. Installer was acting weird
2. Installing was even slower than a CD install
3. Partition table is invalid
4. Some HAL file is missing


Here is what I did (at least what I can remember):

I started by downloading the latest version of Nlite and integrated serial, drivers, hotfixes and Sp3 into the project, saved it somewhere on a network harddrive

After that I downloaded Win2Flash and used the wizard to put it on the usb-stick

From Today:
Then, when I needed to reinstall windows, I noticed many weird things:

It seems to work at first, but then after the basic parts* has been used** I get an error, it says E:\ doesn't contain any valid partition.. ..But wait a sec, E:\ is the optical drive
But I know it's working properly, so I disabled it in BOIS

After that the installer would continue, and I found a new problem, it didn't find the 2 SATA Hardrives which is also working properly, so I made a ~60 GB partition on the IDE Harddrive and let the installer continue..
Nothing more weird yet, installer goes on as it usually do, later the computer is restarted and I continue with step 2, the "graphical setup" and I noticed that something was wrong, because installing WinXP from a CD takes about an 1 hour including configuration, reboots and that..

But.. ..step 2 took 2 hours to complete, and that is weird, as the motherboard and the device supports USB 2.0 and like never use USB 1.1 (it was slower than a CD Install  )
Since I didn't want windows to be on the IDE Harddrive, I installed Acronis Disk Director and moved the partion to one of the SATA Harddrives

After that I installed these: ZoneAlarm, ThreatFire, Ad-Aware and Firefox
One of them required a restart, so I did the restart..
After that "setup screen" the OS is supposed to load, but like 30 seconds later a message says "Invalid boot partition" or something like that***

Then I tried booting from the usb-stick and I tried "disk 1 partition 1" which gave me another odd message, something about the file HAL was missing
I also tried to use "disk 2, partition 2" and that worked, without any problem


* or what I should called them, they are the first to be used in "textmode" setup part
**I don't know what the installer does with them
*** Not sure as it was displayed in Swedish


Now the main problem is the awkward way to start windows:
1. Hold F8 to access the menu where I can select what device to boot from
2. Select the usb-stick and choose "disk 2, partion2"
3. Wait for windows to load
Then I can use it

After that, the message about HAL should be removed/fixed

And lastly, somehow make a better installer and put it on the usb-stick


Any help to solve these issues would be appreciated


Useful Info:
Source CD: 32Bit WinXP Pro SP2 5.1 build 2600 - Swedish
Specifications:
ASUS M2N
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ running at 2.422 GHz (21% overclock)
ASUS GT220 1GB
Creative SB X-Fi eXtremeGamer
2x 80GB Segate Barracuda
1 Western Digital 320GB IDE
1 LG DVD Burner

[patio]

I'd start with a genuine XP CD if it were me...

[Ryder17z]

Well, that would be the last thing I would do, as it takes several days to configure all settings correctly

[BC_Programmer]

All of your problems are caused both by nlite as well as the different crap you put on the slipstream, all combined with the fact that your installing through a USB stick.

if you have a working CD drive, why are you using a USB stick anyway? Additionally, motherboards don't support USB 2.0. the only thing a motherboard, of any type, will support before drivers are installed is using USB keyboards and mice as PS/2 devices, and perhaps some USB 2.0 functionality for  booting. of course, once Windows starts installing it's drivers for USB mass storage they take precedence, so if they only support 1.1 during boot  (which I believe is the case) then you will only get USB 1.1 speeds during the file transfers.

Therefore the "slowness" is probably the mass storage drivers being used by windows, which I doubt use USB 2.0 fully during setup.

Basically, this is a combinations of factors; First, the only things you really should be slipstreaming on an XP disc are Service packs and SATA drivers required during bootup. drivers for your motherboard, display, etc. Install those afterward.

[Ryder17z]

Well, the reasons why I tried Nlite was: I wanted to have most stuff installed so wouldn't need to mess with all CD's I need to as they aren't included on the windows cd (obviously)

The things I was trying to slipstream was:
Service Pack 3
~20 Hotfixes
NetFramework 3.0
Drivers for:
Motherboard
GFX
Soundcard
Shared network devices

It would be less trouble if I could install it from the same drive/device instead of what I have done before, as it's 11 CD's with only drivers, tools, manuals and other for all devices (Only drivers is needed to make them work properly, so I tried to slipstream them)


And I can't use the DVD Drive, as I discovered the IDE Cable is broken and I don't have another one


I'll see if I can find a big box of 3.5" floppy discs I got - There might be some handy tools on them

[Spoiler]

I would suggest that you bite the bullet and fix the cable then do a full reload off the DVD. After you have things the way to want get a USB drive and make an image.

[Ryder17z]

Spoiler: I don't think it would fit on the usb stick, as it's 2GB and the windows folder is over 2 GB

[Spoiler]

How big of a stick would you need? 

And no this is not a personal question!   

[Ryder17z]

What stick?...

...Well at least 4GB would be needed - And they aren't expensive,so I could go buy an 8GB stick, it would be enough


And about the weird issues I had, well I borrowed a USB-CDROM and used "repair" and it works as it should now

[Spoiler]

Glad to hear your up and running again....