Windows xp taking hours to install?

Blackopsninja

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hi there i dont know if this is in the right place or not sorry if it isnt.

well i recently came across a "mup.sys" error and i dont know what is causing it. i am now reinstalling windows with a complete format and windows xp is taking FOREVER to install! it says 'approximately 40 minutes' and it has been at least 8 hours with the minutes counting down slow as all get out. i have an 8400 2 gigs of ram fast hard drive, brand new system build (only a few months old) and i dont know whats causing this. anyone else out there encounter any similar problems? also the first time i reinstalled windows it came back with the mup.sys error again, AFTER a clean format and install. i read somewhere that maybe it was the nvidia network access manager. i wont install it this time and see how it goes, please help me tomshardware forum guys!
 

TheDraac

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Is your keyboard and mouse of the usb type??? Are they ps2 compatible??? If so, use the ps2 adapters and try them on your ps2 ports. I had a situation where a keyboard would hang the computer at boot up.

It's worth a try....
 

knotknut

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Windows does not take that long to install. You have a hardware problem.
Look very closely at the capacitors for signs of leakage, brown substance like burnt sugar, usually on the top, or stain around the bottom @ Mother Board. You could have a defective Sata cable or IDE cable, do you have spares. Your Hard drive could be kaput.
If you see leaking CAP look no further.
Unplug if not already, Printer, internet, router, print server, usb devices including card readers, external HDD, any unnessary drives (CD/DVD)
 

Blackopsninja

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i checked for leaky capacitors and all of them look good. i will change the sata cable but i do not have another ide cable (ide cable hooks up my dvd drives) sata cable hooks up to my hard drive. i have a usb keyboard but thats it. ill unplug everything else and report back
 
Disable anything un needed during the install.

Serial/parallel ports, sound/game port. Sometimes this can jam the install. To be honest i have not seen anything like this since i installed XP on a P166, had to remove the sound card to get the install to move on. Re-enable after and windows will be install drivers.
 

Blackopsninja

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so it turns out i did have a spare ide cable and i swapped it out but no difference. i did notice that the hard drive was kind of spinning and then stopping every second. perhaps this could be an issue? i dont think its doing this all the time but i dont know. i switched the keyboard out and unplugged the mouse and nothing. i swapped the ram sticks and only tried 1 1 gig stick and nothing. any other ideas? sound card is built in im not sure how to disable it but my speakers arent plugged in anyway.
 
you disable un used items in the bios, hit F1 or DEL on start up a few times and you should be taken to a screen where you can change settings. Be careful. With the wrong settings you may have to reset the bios with the jumper on the board.
 

Blackopsninja

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ok guys i think i might of solved my installation problem. i reset the bios or loaded the default settings and that seems to of fixed it. The installation is actually installing at decent speed! now i still might have the mup.sys issue, i will update this whenever the installation is finished
 

smalltime0

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Um I assume P166=Pentium 166?
If so, may I ask why were you installing XP on a P 166?
Last time I checked the minimum to Run XP is a P2 200 (lol Which I did try, and it ran).
 

XP handled sound better and did not skip when doing other things(this was coming from 98). It just was generally smother/more stable. It had 512MB of EDO ram :)