Strange Video Card Question...

[brucek 38]

I never thought I'd be asking this!I'm attempting to install Windows XP into a brand new PC that I've built. Discussing this on some of the XP and other forums around, the issue I'm having appears to be hardware related. I've 'dumbed down" the hardware to a bare minimum for the XP install. I've had a few people respond with "try an older PCI video card, then once XP is up un-install it and install your new one" (GeForce 3 Ti200). Apparently XP just doesn't like hardware about which it has no knowledge, and when installing XP you don't have the advantage of being able to install drivers, etc.Just where would I get an older PCI video card from, though? The last one I had was a Voodoo 3, which I gave away some years ago. Any ideas?Thanks,Bruce.

[Guest]

Best Buy sells em. Just bought 4 for work.Cheers,bt

[brucek 38]

Hi Braun,Thanks (again).I'm going to write a long article on geting WinXP to install once I get it up and running! :)Thanks,Bruce.

[Guest SD Sim]

Hi Bruce,I've followed your XP installation woes, although I didn't piece together until now (after an archive search) that all the posts were yours. I wanted to add my 2 cents here. In looking through the old threads, there is one thing that I didn't see that IMHO may be the root of all your problems. It sounds like your trying to install on a formatted HD. My recommendation is that you back up the essentials on that drive and then format it (I would use NTFS). I suspect that once you try to install on a reformatted drive, all your problems will be gone. I know this is a drastic measure, but as I said, I suspect that this is at the root of all your problems. While I've never tried to install an old HD on a new Mainboard, I've seen many posts reporting problems similar to yours. I know that this will involve reinstalling perhaps a significant amount of software, however in the long run, it may save you a ton of work.And if you already tried this, well - nervermind ;)

[Guest]

Nuke and Pave :) Almost always is a sure fire fix!Cheers,bt

[brucek 38]

Hi David,Thanks- I appreciate your suggestion.Regarding the HD- I have actually purchased a new HD for this machine. I went into FDISK fron a DOS floppy (actually Win98 startup), created a primary partition and formatted to FAT32; then from there have either:1. Attempted to load WinXP onto this newly formatted C: (I have the upgrade version of XP, so this involves showing it the Win98 CD).2. Installed Win98, created logical partitions with PM7, attempted to do a clean install on D: (still FAT32);3. Attempted to upgrade Win98 on C:Are you suggsting I try NTFS? Since the HD is new, I have little to lose from re-formatting :)Thanks,Bruce.

[brucek 38]

Hi BraunI've e-mailed you.Thanks for your interest.Bruce.

[Guest SD Sim]

:( Unfortunately, I doubt that reformatting as NTFS will solve your problem. What a pain in the a**. Have you considered getting a replacement CD? It would seem to me that you have tried everything that could be asked of a sane person. Obviously something isn't quite right. I've had no problems at all with either XP pro or XP home. Sorry your having such problems.