Vanity- Computer Problem

March 11, 2007

[perfect stranger]

But any other ideas in the meantime are appreciated. I have run a few Linux bootable discs that I like but I still don't have much of a clue as to how to install them on my harddrive. Any Freeper help?

[Swordmaker]

1: Clean the install disks to make sure it is not a read problem.

2: Reformat the HD and check it for bad sectors and map them out.

[JoeSixPack1]

1: Clean the install disks to make sure it is not a read problem.

Take the CD or DVD and wash it with soap and water. Let dry or hair dryer it dry. Your upper memory is obviously fine if xp gets as far as you say.

2. Try custom installing with some features turned off. (Install those features after it's up and running.)

[perfect stranger]

Try custom installing with some features turned off.

I've not found that screen to disable some features when I install. It would be great to find considering I would never use Messenger, Outlook, Office ect.

[SamAdams76]

Try a new hard drive. But have you ever considered just getting a Mac?

[perfect stranger]

Would getting a Mac help me solve this problem?

[Two-Shoes]

During the setup process, you should see a dialog box with radio buttons for options like Typical Install, Custom Install, etc. (If you don't already know "radio buttons" are white circles; when you click on a radio button a black dot fills in; only one black dot is allowed per group of radio buttons.) Choose the Custom Install radio button.

Next, you're looking for the Windows Components dialog box:

Note that when you select an item that has more sub-components available, the "Details" button's text will be black instead of grayed-out.

In the above screen shot, you'll see that there is a black check mark in the box to the left of Outlook Express. If you don't want to use Outlook Express, select it (so it's entry line is highlighted in blue) and then click the box to deselect it (to remove the check mark).

Hope this helps.

--Two-Shoes

[SamAdams76]

Yes, for then you would not have to worry about loading XP.

[Gone_Postal]

I have had the same promlem before....if formating the hard drive doesn't work...try another hard drive...

[csvset]

Check out this link.

I'm curious to see if it works.

Langa Letter: XP's No-Reformat, Nondestructive Total-Rebuild Option

[Two-Shoes]

Would getting a Mac help me solve this problem?

If you go that route purchase a new(er) Mac that has Intel chips as its CPU(s): that way you could install either Apple's Boot Camp, or--better still--purchase a software title called Parallels, and install Windows XP on your Apple Computer. Older Macs like my 1.42 GHz G4 Mac-mini have PowerPC chips for CPU(s), so neither Apple's Boot Camp nor the 3rd party Parallels software run on them.

Also, you might want to wait a few months before getting a new Mac because OS X 10.5 a.k.a. "Leopard" will be released soon. The current Mac OS X is 10.4 "Tiger". If you buy a Mac now, it will only have Tiger on it; upgrading to Leopard a few months from now will cost you over $100.

Hope this helps.

--Two Shoes

[Two-Shoes]

I have had the same promlem before....if formating the hard drive doesn't work...try another hard drive...

But did you run Microsoft's Scan Disk, or some other utility, to map out the bad sectors after reformatting the HD?

Depending upon the method you used to reformat, the bad sector table may not have been updated during the formatting. It only takes a few bad sectors to pooch the process of reinstalling any OS.

I had a PowerBook G4 (a laptop) on which I was trying to reinstall Tiger...but the reinstall would go belly-up about halfway through, despite the fact that I did a quick reformat of the HD before hand. It was only after I ran the Mac OS Disk Utility-->Erase-->Zero out data that I could get Tiger to reinstall. Zeroing out the data in the Mac environment takes a long time, but it fully updates the bad sector table on the HD. Once all the bad sectors were mapped out, Tiger reinstalled without a hitch.

Just my $0.02.

--Two Shoes

[Two-Shoes]

But any other ideas in the meantime are appreciated. I have run a few Linux bootable discs that I like but I still don't have much of a clue as to how to install them on my harddrive. Any Freeper help?

You might try a Ubuntu Linux distro. The Ubuntu website has a lot of links you might find helpful, even for installing other Linux distros.

I have Ubuntu 6.06 installed on an 8-year old PC. It runs like a champ.

--Two-Shoes

[relee]

Boot a linux live CD, if you have one, to ensure the hardware (except the hard drive) is OK.

[sully777]

Get a Mac. They are upgrading their product line in May and are trying to clean out the old inventory. You can find a low end i-Mac G-5 for about $950. The bad boy will last a decade with few upgrades needed.

... and for $79 buy Mac's PC parallel (or go cheap and use the Mac Bootcamp on their website). Then find a new XP and download it to the Mac...Staples and some CompUSA's still sell Windows XP Home for about $199 (don't go to Best Buy they got rid of every XP for the crappy Mac-OS knockoff Vista).

God love Bill Gates...he's a friggin evil genius the likes of which we haven't seen since PT Barnum..

[Gone_Postal]

I did run scan dsk and fixdsk also. my drives were old they had problems. when I installed a new hd the problem went away.

I also have a mac mini and a mac book.
what I really want is a Mac Pro...I do music recording (home studio)which I use the PC for.The Mac Pro would be so much better. Only thing I would need new software as for what I use now doesn't work with apple

[perfect stranger]

Thanks but, I can say that I've installed 3 different XP OS on this machine and have never run across the dialog box that you show.

[perfect stranger]

Your solution to my problem is to go out and pay upwards of $500 to buy a new system with an OS that I'm not at all familiar with? Why don't you just send me your Mac for free the next time you upgrade?