Installation Woes...

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers (More info?)

I've just started using XP, and I'm having some problems
getting installations to work right.

What seems to happen is that the installation will boot,
and start intalling, then just stop, flat out, smack-dab
in the middle of the install. All hard drive activity
will cease, and if I'm lucky, I can just control-alt-
delete the whole thing.

I mean just about all installations too. From software,
to drivers (Even Windows Update doesn't work right!)

I looked up some help on the the InstallShield knowledge
base, but nothing really helped much at all.

I'm a veteran Win95/98 user, and I recently "inherited"
this used XP machine.

It was used in an office environment, and hadn't been
defragged once (believe me, that was the FIRST thing I
did).

Since this computer is second hand, I don't have access
to a WinXP CD, but I do know that it has Service Pack 1
installed.

Can somebody help me?

Specs:

RAM: 256 MB
CPU: 1.6Ghz AthlonXP
HD: Western Digital 40gig

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers (More info?)

On Sun, 23 May 2004 01:24:57 -0700, Matt wrote:

> I've just started using XP, and I'm having some problems
> getting installations to work right.
>
> What seems to happen is that the installation will boot,
> and start intalling, then just stop, flat out, smack-dab
> in the middle of the install. All hard drive activity
> will cease, and if I'm lucky, I can just control-alt-
> delete the whole thing.
>
> I mean just about all installations too. From software,
> to drivers (Even Windows Update doesn't work right!)
>
> I looked up some help on the the InstallShield knowledge
> base, but nothing really helped much at all.
>
> I'm a veteran Win95/98 user, and I recently "inherited"
> this used XP machine.
>
> It was used in an office environment, and hadn't been
> defragged once (believe me, that was the FIRST thing I
> did).
>
> Since this computer is second hand, I don't have access
> to a WinXP CD, but I do know that it has Service Pack 1
> installed.
>
> Can somebody help me?
>
> Specs:
>
> RAM: 256 MB
> CPU: 1.6Ghz AthlonXP
> HD: Western Digital 40gig

How long do you wait before giving up? The system may be busy making a
system restore point. With 256MB of RAM, you will hit bottlenecks with more
intensive operations. The system will have to page data to and from the
hard drive and that takes longer to do than it would on a system with more
memory.

Some download managers have been known to stall installations as well so
that's another angle to consider.

PS: You will want to get a copy of XP for that system. As it stands, the
system is not running with a valid license. Eventually you will run into a
repair or maintenance situation that requires the CD.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows XP Shell/User