Windows XP Setup Problem

[jwrmo]

I have an Acer Travelmate 280 laptop. Ive been trying and trying to install windows XP home on it to no avail. I have updated the Bios to the most recent version and it still doesnt install. Setup will copy the necessary files then wants to reboot. It reboots and the xp home title page comes up with the bar moving across. It goes beyond that to the next screen where it turns blue and the mouse cursor is on the screen. Then nothing happens after that. Ive rebooted to restart setup but the same thing happens. Any help would be appreciated. I can not figure this out.

[TheNNS]

why don't you try wiping out the hard drive completly. www.killdisk.com
download the image, burn it on a cd and boot from it. this will write zeros on all the sectors, so it'll be completly wiped. once you've done that, try to install xp again. chose the nfts option, not ntfs(quick), or fat32.

[PLT]

Can any one out there help?
I reinstalled XP and and the settings
on the screen resolution bar will not move
at all any tips thanks.

[bobbyraw]

jwrmo
runchkdsk /f then fdisk on the drive, ensure its formatted. then try again.

plt
you neeed to get the correct drivers for your video card installed. i guess you are only seeing 16 colors presently?

[TheNNS]

yes, you need drivers for you video card
find out what your card is and then google for the drivers.
use hardware manager to find out what card you have, or you can use windows updates to get the drivers.

[PLT]

Well i see 9 colores i think.i am at work right
know it will not move from 800 by 600.

[jwrmo]

How do I install drivers for the video card when XP setup is not complete. Is there a way of installing them before I install XP?

[jwrmo]

When I use Kill disk it tells me memory allocation error use PM software
Press any key to continue. What does this mean?

[TheNNS]

>How do I install drivers for the video card when XP setup is not complete. Is there a way of installing them before I install XP?

no, you cannot install drivers without an OS.

> When I use Kill disk it tells me memory allocation error use PM software
Press any key to continue. What does this mean?

it means your memory is failing, or you hard drive is failing.

[jwrmo]

>How do I install drivers for the video card when XP setup is not complete. Is there a way of installing them before I install XP?

no, you cannot install drivers without an OS.

> When I use Kill disk it tells me memory allocation error use PM software
Press any key to continue. What does this mean?

it means your memory is failing, or you hard drive is failing.

Is there anything I can do to check this. I dont have a floppy just a CD ROM.

[TheNNS]

you can get a memory tester from http://www.memtest86.com/
you make an iso and burn it to a disk.

[jwrmo]

you can get a memory tester from http://www.memtest86.com/
you make an iso and burn it to a disk.

I can use the memory and hard drive both in my other laptop and they work just fine. Could there be an issue with killdisk that is causing that error. Ive tried to diffrent hard drives one that im on here with now did the same exact thing in my working laptop.

[jwrmo]

Another comment to all of this everything works fine until I get into windows. Its when I leave the dos that it goes haywire. I dont think its a hard drive or memory problem because I used a known working hard drive and it did the same thing also bought a new memory module and it still wont boot the rest of xp setup.

[TheNNS]

i don't know what the problem is. why don't you try installing ubuntu on it?

[jwrmo]

i don't know what the problem is. why don't you try installing ubuntu on it?

There are some jumpers in the laptop. Ive taken it apart 4 DIP switches on the motherboard
I cant seem to find out how they function. Maybe you would have a solution for that? I am an A++ Certified computer technician myself and never have had anything stump me like this.