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On my BK630e book PC, bought a fresh copy of XP home edition full version and a 40GB drive to install on it. At the Starting Windows prompt where if I remember, the black WinXP screen replaces the standard text on blue opening motif, the keyboard lights go out, there is a seemingly audible click and the HDD light comes on and stays on...no steady flashing at all. No response results, however, if I load MS DOS 6.2, which I was able to get from the Goodwill, and Windows 98, where I am prompted for a lost product key.... The OS install and concludes in the case of MS DOS, above.

What could be the culprit? My suspicion is on the upgraded DVD RW drive that was not with the system originally, but the PC133 256MB was and tonight was tested with diagnostic software, no faults!

Even the techs are so far at a loss to suggest a fix, other then installing the original CPU and setting the BIOS voltage settings for the FSB to register correctly.
Since the bookPC is a seemingly unknown computer platform around here, info is not too hard to locate online.

BILL

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Practical troubleshooting checklist for a Windows XP install that halts at the graphical "Starting Windows" phase. This kind of hang is usually caused by a low-level interaction between hardware and the BIOS (optical drive or media errors, disk controller/IDE conflicts, bad memory, or BIOS/voltage/ACPI issues). A short, ordered isolation routine will find the culprit faster than trial-and-error.

  1. Minimize hardware. Remove any non-essential devices (aftermarket DVD-RW, extra drives, PCMCIA cards) and try the install with only the target HDD and one stick of RAM. As @pblilman09 suggested, disconnect or remove any existing 9x drive that could confuse the installer.
  2. Verify BIOS basics. Restore defaults, confirm the HDD and optical drive are detected, set IDE mode to Auto/Legacy if an option exists, and avoid changing voltage/FSB settings unless there is a confirmed need or an original CPU to test with.
  3. Test RAM and disk independently. Run memtest86 (several passes) to rule out RAM faults. Run the HDD vendor's diagnostic or connect the drive to another PC to run chkdsk / surface tests and confirm SMART status.
  4. Swap the installer/source. Try a different XP disc or a known-good drive—optical drive failures or a marginally burned CD can hang setup. If the laptop supports it, try booting an external USB optical drive or a diagnostic/live Linux CD to verify broader hardware stability.
  5. BIOS updates and CPU/voltage changes only as last resort. If a BIOS flash is required, use the exact OEM file for the model, ensure AC power and battery present, and follow the vendor procedure precisely. Do not experiment with voltages without a known-good donor CPU.
  6. Driver recovery for legacy OSes. For missing ME/XP drivers, read the Hardware Ids (PCI\VEN and DEV) from Device Manager on a working machine, fetch drivers from the vendor or chipset maker on another PC, and transfer them via USB.

If these steps still fail, capture exactly where setup stops (any beep codes, disk activity pattern, or error text) and try a bootable diagnostics/live distro to confirm the hardware picture before pursuing a risky BIOS change. These methodical checks usually reveal whether the problem is media/drive related or something deeper like BIOS/hardware incompatibility.

Member Avatar for pblilman09

if you still have 9X hdd running as a slave then you should disconnect it and format the xp hdd and then try re installing xp

Member Avatar for BILL S

I had no luck getting XP to run on my BKS630e Book PC, but I was able to use my eMachine's dated Windows ME OS on it's OEM HDD, swapped to the book PC and run, but it lacks necessary drivers for full operation, resolution VGA-wise and for the modem/fax/Ethernet as well... so downloading them is completely out on that front, I have to get them to disk again, it seems. So far my search has led to various Flash-ROM BIOS updates, and even then, not sure what to use. My fresh copy of XP Home Edition did boot on my Compaq DeskPro I bought from the Goodwill so I will be installing it when I upgrade the 500MHz Celeron there. I want Movie Maker to install without any problems!

BILL

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