Diane wrote:
>My plan is to unplug this hdd and rethink this entire mess.

Due to the frustrations sometimes associated with building or upgrading
computers, I think this may be a good start. I'm not sure I would unplug it
but I would give some thought to letting it go for a day or two. I find when
I get to a point that is really frustrating, those times when shooting the
computer makes more sense I have to walk away and calm down. I tried a
little libation on several occasions but it made the situation worse.

> want to know how to stop this stupid thing from trying to restart the
setup every time I fire up the hdd.

I would suspect that you went into the BIOS and set the "Boot Order" so the
CD boots first. At some point you have to change this back to the original
order which for some people is; First Boot Floppy, Second Boot Hard drive
and Third Boot CD... When Windows XP is almost finished installing, it will
restart and if memory serves me correctly, you may have a choice to make.
Booting from the CD or setup puts you back into the beginning of the install
mode. Booting to the hard drive will allow the Operating system to finish
its cycle. If you have a choice, boot to the Hard Drive. If you don't, let
the machine do its thing and it will boot to the hard drive finishing the
install process. Someplace around here is when I would reorder the boot up
process as explained above..

> I downloaded the SP1a from M$, but the install procedure is getting too
convoluted to endure. I am now awaiting the mailed cd from M$.

I think you made the right choice in ordering the CD however; this too may
pose some frustration. There are, if I'm correct, two versions on the disk.
One for Administrators and one for us common folks. I'm not sure which is
which at this point. I usually go to the Windows Update and let things run
the course. SP1a is one of those installs that you have to do by it self.
You can't combine it with anything else. There are several of these updates
that fall into that category and the process of gathering the "Critical
Updates" can be a pain.

If you like, you may avail yourself to the Windows XP installation guide
provided by the good folks here at Free PC. http://www.freepctech.com Look
for the Windows XP installation guide. It may help you alleviate most of the
frustrations involved with installing an OS on a new drive.

Sincerely,

Frank Suszka
netTek Computers
[log in to unmask]



-----Original Message-----
From: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Diane Duncan
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 19:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCBUILD] XP Pro install problems

Hi,

I have XP Pro version 2002 that I'm trying to install on a brand new
hdd.  I'm giving up for now and want to know how to stop this stupid
thing from trying to restart the setup every time I fire up the hdd.

My plan is to unplug this hdd and rethink this entire mess.

I downloaded the SP1a from M$, but the install procedure is getting too
convoluted to endure. I am now awaiting the mailed cd from M$.

thanks,
Diane

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