[remilard]

So circumstances occured which required the reinstallation of windows on my computer. When I would turn on the computer, I would get a text screen that said something to the effect of "Windows did not start normally on the previous attempt......."

and then let me choose between starting windows normally and three flavors of safe mode, none of these worked, but this isn't the problem.

So, I get out my IBM product recover CDs, which are not a typical windows installation CD, but are designed to install windows and all the other software that came on my computer originally.

So, the recovery cd's do there things, presumably formatting the drive and copying some things, I put in all four, things look great, and then after the fourth cd is restarts the computer, presumably to finish with the installation.

But when the computer starts, the screen I described above comes up. So its like this thing is jumping in and preventing the IBM recovery program from finishing.

Windows XP home is the windows version in question, and I have an IBM bios (their appears to be minimal variation in versions of the IBM bios but it is a 2002 version).

So how do I get past this? Is it the bios that is doing this or something in the MBR? If it is the later, I have a new hard drive (samsung spinpoint) on they way anyway, so I would just wait for that and start over. If it is the bios, the new hard drive isn't going to help so I would have no idea what to do to get past that screen and finish the recovery process.

Any ideas?

 

[dwin902]

Some specs might be helpful. This could be a BIOS issue, and if it is, you'll need to find a downloadable one somewhere so you can fix the problem. Or, it's a windows issue (which is more likely). Do you really need all four CDs just to install XP? I've never heard of an OEM doing anything like that. Even dell ships a basic XP Recovery Disc, in addition to all their proprietary "support" software on other discs. Try to see if there's one disc labeled just for windows recovery, and use just that one if you have it. Also, make sure that you're formatting the HD when you reinstall windows. Otherwise you could end up with two separate Windows installations, and the old one will still keep you from booting (if indeed Windows is the problem). When Windows shows the menu with the partition info, make sure you delete the partition with all your data on it and then format the drive to erase it completely. You should then be able to do a clean Windows install. I hope this solves your problem.

 

[remilard]

The discs are not labelled, disc one appears to be just the IBM recovery program, presumably one of the others has windows, one has drivers, one has other software that would be my guess, I cannot find any documentation however.

As for the bios, there is documentation that covers all versions of the IBM bios including mine forward and nowhere does it mention anything that would lead me to believe it is the problem.

As for formatting the drive, the IBM recovery program says it will format the drive, but never gives me any control or information over the process. I will be attempting to install on a brand new hard drive tommorrow, so that should eliminate any problems related to formatting or previous windows installations. In fact I am confident that the brand new hard drive should eliminate any issue other than the bios being at fault.

Again, I have no reason to believe the bios to be the problem, and I have never heard of a bios being involved in the booting process other than to look for bootable information on a sequence of devices.

I'll post back tommorrow if the problem persists after installing the new drive. What information would be helpful if it does? I can link you to the docs for my bios, documentation doesn't exist for the recovery CDs (beyond put cd in drive, hold f12 choose cdrom drive as temporary boot device, hit enter a bunch a times.....) as far as I can tell.

 

[Oink1]

I'd try a low level format from within the bios just to be sure that mofo's blank - Can you source a stand alone copy of XP without all the added IBM 'fluff'?... It'll cause less hassles in the long run

 

[remilard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oink1 I'd try a low level format from within the bios just to be sure that mofo's blank - Can you source a stand alone copy of XP without all the added IBM 'fluff'?... It'll cause less hassles in the long run

That is plan B, but I would prefer to avoid the expense, if possible. Thanks for the help.

 

[JeffL]

Modern IDE drives don't need low level formatting.

 

[remilard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL Modern IDE drives don't need low level formatting.

And apparently my samsung drive cannot be low level formatted but they supply a program to restore it to factory state.

Well, I ran the IBM cds on the new samsung HD today and it seemed to be working, and got past the place where I was stuck before and then I had a brief power failure and when I tried again the problem resurfaced.

I guess the next step is to use this samsung supplied program to wipe the HD and try again. The step after that is to take the computer to the "help desk" at my former community college where they will fix it for free, if they can fix it. The next option is buying a copy of XP, the final option will be throwing the whole thing off the roof of my building.

I have this sneaking suspicion that I could install linux without incidence at this point, but I need to spend time with excel. IBM sucks.

 

[dsavitsk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by remilard I have this sneaking suspicion that I could install linux without incidence at this point, but I need to spend time with excel.

Gnumeric?


As someone else suggested, I'd try a bios update.

Otherwise, look into the hardware. To check if it is hardware, take out everything that is not necessary to run (drives, pci cards, ethernet, sound, extra memory dimms.) Try to reinstall. If it works, add hardware back in piece by piece until it crashes. Also, IBM has some low level hardware diagnostic software that you can download that runs without an OS.

 

[Jasper994]

If he's having random power failures I don't think flashing the bios is a good idea...

 

[Necros]

Run a complete burn in tester- memory, cpu, bus, HD scan I/O test..the works...a day should do.

Google search for burn testers, should be a free app. 2nd Jasper994 comments- don't flash the BIOS. You could reset/revert to defaults though, perhaps slow down memory (could be failing @ higher speeds) and slowing down CPU (could be overheating)

I'm afraid this sort of fault needs hands on approach from a technie, going through each bit of h/w, finding out bit by bit.

Could be PSU, loose power/data cables, grounding etc..

 

[tgunner]

A plain XP home disk won't be as expensive as you think. You can buy just the disk on eBay for somewhere under $30 I believe. Then, just install that using the C.O.A. sticker on the back/side/bottom (usually the back) of your computer. My computer has been having this same problem lately, so I just keep hitting "start normally" until it finally does!