XP install hangs...need adivce.

I've done Clean Installs of Windows XP on several Dells, so I know the routine, but today I've been trying to do the same on my girlfriend's E1505 because she began getting slow boot times and weird errors.

Well, everything goes just fine everytime...except when it gets to the red/orange flashing window that says "Installing Applications....Please wait up to 30 minutes to complete. Do Not press any keys during installation."

30 minutes will pass, and nothing. An hour will pass, nothing.

Eventually, harddrive activity stops, as well as the CD-ROM, yet it will hang there.

The specs to her E1505 are exactly the same as mine in my sig, save the fact hers has XP, and mine Vista. And I'm also using a Dell OEM Windows XP MCE 2005 disc, the orange one that came with the laptop.

I'm stumped on this one, guys!

 

Matt - I haven't used a Dell XP MCE cd before - but this kinda sounds like an image being installed instead of a clean copy of XP. Does it still have a restore partition on the HDD? I have installed XP Pro dozens of times and never encountered anything like this. Have you thought about trying XP Pro on it?

 

I don't have anything other then the OEM disc.

I've used this same disc on my machine before I put Vista on it, and it worked just fine. There's no bloatware or anything on the disc. Just XP.

 

Hi

Here are my thoughts and some things you could try:

1) Have you removed the network cable from the laptop? I used to do XP installs on my desktop and if it was connected to my cable service provider, the install would hang for very long ... then proceed normally.

2) The other thing you can do is to remove all peripherals from the Dell and do the install again.

3) And yes, if all else fails, do a clean XP install from a Windows XP CD (i.e. the original software rather than Dell's disk). You don't know if the Dell OEM Windows XP MCE 2005 disc is compatible with your girlfriend's E1505.

 

All networks are disabled, and no peripherals are plugged in.

The XP setup and install all goes fine, it just hangs at the last part with the red/orange flashing window as described before.

This window is normal, as it appeared everytime I did a clean install other times. But, it just hangs in this case, not doing anything.

 

Also, right now, I'm following the MediaDirect method of doing a clean install with XP. Previously I just popped the XP disc in, rebooted, deleted the C: partition, re-made C:, then installed.

Everything seems fine, but we'll see if it can finish completely.

 

I would try disabling all hardware possible in the BIOS (network card, blue tooth, etc) and then do the install. Take as many items out of the picture as possible. Then you can turn them on one by one after it's successfully installed and deal with whatever comes up.

I'd also check for a Dell BIOS update, too.

You might also check the install disk itself for defects and clean it, and also do a deep check on the hdd from a boot disk.

 

After a couple of hours of trying, I have finally concluded that my disc is bad.

A buddy of mine is in town from college, as I am, and he happens to have his Dell OEM disc for Windows MCE 2005. So, I figure, what the hell?

Popped that sucker in, and worked like a charm. I guess my disc had enough action in it's day.

Thanks for the replies guys, as always!