ok was doing a clean install of windows xp home ok started ok then got so far said it had to reboot. then nothing the comp starts to boot and then nothing no loading zip zilch. cant even get into dos now. all i can get into is the bios and boot menu
cpu 3.2ghz
ram 1gb ddr2
hard drive 160gb
i only have the one cd/dvd drive when i put the start up disk in i can hear the disc start but the monitor doesnt show anything just a blank screen. i had formatted it and partitioned it but. i am getting close to throwing it out the window.

If you are using install media from a questionable source (e.g. some torrents, or an "unknown" eBay seller or other online questionable discounted source, or a neighbor, etc.) then it may simply be a totally screwed-up copy (and/or is quite possibly illegal))

Did this computer previously boot and run XP ok, or is this the first time for this computer?

Is the hard drive an IDE or SATA drive? If it is SATA, did you know it won't install and boot XP unless you have installed and use special device drivers?

Also, when you first setup and partition a boot partition/disk, you have to first "mark" it as "active". Otherwise it will just sit there. The setup disk/program should provide that capability. If it doesn't or you can't find it, you might try using freeware programs like PartitionLogic or XXclone that have some partition tools that can help with this.

http://partitionlogic.org.uk/about/index.html
(note: it now CAN re-size Win-XP NTFS boot partition)

XXclone (for this problem, I'm not saying use the cloning function...XXclone has a feature called "cool tools" that can help with the disk)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/XXCLONE_d5534.html
http://www.xxclone.com/index.htm

Downloaded File Corruption Test
I do recommend performing a corruption test when possible to make sure your downloads aren't corrupted. Long downloads tend to be vulnerable. Use a program like freeware Fingerprint to calculate the MD5 or SHA-1 hash and compare to the value (if) provided by the download site.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/FingerPrint_d4388.html
http://www.2brightsparks.com/


edit to add-"mark it active" info
edit-add download info and corruption test recommendation

its a western digital its only a year old so it should be ide the disk is the one supplied with my computer which was new.

and yes it did run it ok in the past my friend was trying to fix his hard drive and its wiped both his is a sata

sorry both sata

If it is the SATA drivers issue, then there are a lot of threads with step-by-step help on this. e.g. You can search:

google

hardware analysis

Basically will involve using F6 and loading the SATA drivers at install time...you may have to go thru the process once more. The SATA drivers are specific to the motherboard...they are provided by the computer/motherboard manufacturer and not included with Windows. The drivers provided for one computer may not work properly on another computer...even if they are the same model. Vendors can use different mobos in a particular model or sub-model.

If you no longer have a copy of the motherboard's SATA drivers, you can probably download them from the computer manufacturer's website.


edit to add: if you don't have a floppy drive to add the drivers using F6, you might consider creating what's called a "slipstream" install CD. This takes your installation CD, and "slipstreams" (adds in) the SATA drivers (or other software you might want to include, like SP3). This new "slipstreamed" CD/DVD becomes your new install CD. In the future, re-installs would then be much easier

Slipstreaming instructions are here and other places:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-With...7807.shtml
theeldergeek.com is also an excellent slipstreaming information site with lots of detail.

BTW, if you want to run basic diagnostics on your hardware, I'd suggest self-booting version of UBCD. It tests memory, CPU, devices, etc. That way you can be more confident whether it's a hardware or software problem. It boots of the CD/DVD drive thus bypassing your installed Windows and drivers. If it won't boot from the optical drive of course, it would suggest a problem with the CD/DVD sub-system (drive, cable, power, connectors, etc)

http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/
http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/download.html
(Latest version is 4.1.2 but you may only be able to find 4.1.1)
You can download a .iso, .exe self-extracting, or .zip file depending on what connection speed you have. (download filesizes range from 87mb to 115mb) The .iso file is easiest as you just download it and then burn the .iso image to a CD using Nero, or freeware CDburnerXP, or burnatonce, etc. Again, I would advise verifying the "hash" of the download before you burn the file to disc.

I've run into this problem on systems running the NVidia Chipset as well as the Silicon chipsets for support of SATA during Xp installs.
Make sure that you are using the NVIdia connectors for BOTH the HDD and the DVD/CD drive.
This seemed to take care of most of the problems that I had.
As John said though, you may have to make use of a floppy to install the XP drivers, but I only hit this if I was actually trying to set up a MB based RAID array during the initial system install.

Gerritt

got the sata one sorted out but mine is an eide hard drive and i have checked the windows is a working one on another computer which is a vista laptop but my eide i put the disk in i can get to the bios and boot i can see the cd drive working and the hard drive but the screen stays blue no matter what i have looked in the bios changed power hard configs also boot configs but nothing also changed it back tried most combinations but still the blue screen starting to annoying me really badly

I'd try booting the self-booting UBCD or even any "Live" CD/DVD to verify the optical drive, then I'd run diagnostics and/or benchmark tests on the EIDE hard drive and the optical drive, and I'd run diags on the mobo, CPU, and RAM as well. UBCD (see above posts) would do a decent job of all of that.


Another observation, IF you are doing a RESTORE installation using manufacturer's restore discs instead of a brand new installation with a Windows install CD, then before one boots the restore media, one must sometimes remove the video card to do so if the motherboard has integrated video. That issue even sometimes stymies very experienced people.

I realize you've said you're doing a clean install, but I just wanted to remove any possible confusion on how and what you're "installing".

Um, Rebecca,
Did you say that this install is working on your laptop, but you can't get it working on a desktop system?
That may be the problem. If you are using media that is OEM specific to the laptop it may not incorporate the proper drivers for other systems/system types.

Gerritt

no i checked if my windows disk would autorun on the laptop the laptop runs vista anyway (for the moment that is )