New build - XP install problem ?

[Prof_Plum]

This is my first post and I'd like to thank those who make this forum possible. It's great idea.

I built a computer ~6-7 years ago, MB went bad so I’ve used this site to build another PC. I’m pretty much a computer novice.

System:
XP Home edition full w/SP2
Intel Duo E6750 2.66 GHz
ASUS P5N32-E SLI, 680i ATX
GeForce 7600GT 256MB
Crucial 2 x 1GB DDR2
WD SE16 320 GB 7200RPM SATA
OCZ Game Stream 700W
Sony DRU-830A
Lian Li case

Initial power-up worked fine. Put in XP CD for install. Agreed to license, etc. Created several partitions [messed up here]. Mistakenly thought GB rather than MB so made an 8 & 16 MB partition. Realized mistake and made 120000, 90000, 90000 and 20000 MB partitions. Next chose 20GB partition for Windows install. Next, got message, non-compatible XP partition. Went back and forth trying other partitions to install on with no luck. F3, quit setup. Turned off PC.

I had Partition Magic 5.0 (PM) rescue disks from my earlier Win 98 built computer. So, put these in floppy and powered up. Went in with PM and formatted the 20GB via FAT32 (as somebody had suggested). Went thru setup of XP again, chose the 20GB FAT32 partition and still got non-compatible XP partition. Turned off PC. Went back into PM and re-formatted using NTFS. Inserted XP for setup and chose the NTFS formatted 20GB partition. Windows now accepted this partition as compatible for install. Asked if I wanted to format and I said ‘yes’; figuring just in case XP didn’t like PM’s format, I’ll let XP format. After XP’s setup format, it said computer needs to re-boot to complete the install. Computer powered down, re-booted and after BIOS load it sits at a black screen with only a blinking cursor in upper left corner. Nothing is happening….

Tried going into BIOS and changing the boot up sequence to have the CD as primary and put in the XP disk. After an initial read of CD, it sits idle at black screen with cursor. F.w.i.w. In BIOS, IDE primary master is CD, and HD listed as SATA 1.

From PM my partitions are as follows:
NTFS……..7.8 MB………active……..primary
Extended…..306 GB…….non-active…..primary
NTFS………20 GB……..non-active….logical
NTFS……..115 GB……..non-active….logical
NTFS……..80 GB……..non-active….logical
NTFS……..90 GB……..non-active….logical

I can’t delete the initial 7.8 MB partition or make it larger. So, I’m guessing, by default, PM makes this partition for its install – but I really am only guessing.

I’m really frustrated at this point. The only thing I can think of is for some reason XP isn’t recognizing the SATA HD; I didn’t F6 [install 3rd party RAID SATA drivers] at initial setup. But then, it doesn’t seem like that non-choice would keep me from being able to boot/install from the CD. Figure it shouldn't be that the CD drive is bad 'cause that initially loaded XP with no problem. So, I’m clueless.

[The Wise Monkey]

OK, there are a few problems here:

1. Your XP partition should be a primary partition rather than a logical partition
2. NTFS is much better than FAT32, so choose this option
3. Your XP partition needs to be active

What I'd recommend is only creating one partition to begin with and then adding extra partitions once Windows is installed. This means deleting all the partitions so far and starting afresh with one 20GB partition and the rest as free space for the time being. Once you have XP up and running, then you can create the other partitions.

That 7.8MB partition is automatically created by any kind of disk management software as some extra working space afaik, so there is no way to change it.

Hope this helps. :)

[Prof_Plum]

Thanks Wise Monkey. I have done as you suggested.

Now as partitions:
Hidden NTFS……..7.8 MB…….hidden……..primary
NTFS…………….20 GB………..active……..primary
Unallocated……..284 GB……non-active……primary

Performed re-boot and still ended at black screen with blinking cursor. Also tried putting in XP CD while re-booting. CD drive looked at XP disc but did nothing – leaving black/blinking screen.

I’ve kept boot-up sequence in BIOS as floppy/HD/CD. BIOS recognizes Sony CD drive. I’ve been able to put in XP CD and do a dir: in DOS to see files. Tried ‘setup.exe’ but PC said cannot execute in DOS.


Any other ideas ?

[The Wise Monkey]

Hmmm...

Try changing the boot order so that the HD boots first - if you have already done the text based install of XP then your HD is needed to continue on.

[Prof_Plum]

Thanks. I'll try that when I get home (at work now).

Also, after doing some more browsing, I've stumbled across some information that suggests that XP doesn't recognize partitions made by Partition Magic 5.0 - lucky me :(

= = = = = = = = = = = = =
From Microsoft support:
SYMPTOMS If you create a partition by using PartitionMagic 5.0 by PowerQuest, this partition appears as Inactive (OS/2 Boot Manager) during the installation of Windows XP regardless of the operating system that resides on that partition.

CAUSE This behavior occurs because Windows XP Setup does not recognize the file system ID of PartitionMagic version 5.0.

RESOLUTION To resolve this behavior, download the PartitionMagic 5.01 update for Windows 2000 from the following PowerQuest Web site:
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
I don't really understand exactly what they're saying here, but it sounds like that 5.0 could be a problem. I suppose I could go in and try to delete all the partitions I made with PM and start anew - but that may lead right back to my original problem returning with the message "non-compatible XP partition".

I really don't want to spend ~$60 for another version of Partition Magic but that 5.01 update was back in April 2000 and I can't find it anymore on-line.

note: Apparently there are different versions of NTFS 3.1 etc, so maybe XP's NTFS doesn't like PM's version of NTFS.

[The Wise Monkey]

You can just create the partitions during the XP text setup stage - you don't need to use PM. :)

[Prof_Plum]

Right. But that's what I did [i.e. create partition] at the very beginning during the XP text setup process. Trouble occurred when the next screen in the XP setup process game me a message that told me 'no compatible XP partitions'.....which led me to try Partition Magic 5.0....etc.

If I run into that problem again, which may very well happen, any suggestions for making those partitions XP compatible ?

b.t.w. I do appreciate your help.

[The Wise Monkey]

This is certainly a puzzle. :)

Try using some different software - Cute Partition Manager is freeware and is quite good: http://www.cutepm.com/

You will need to create a bootable CD from the executable that it gives you - do you have a CD writer available to you?

[Prof_Plum]

XP has been installed. :)

Didn't get a chance to mess with it any 'cause it was late last night and I was trying to watch both the football and baseball games.

First I booted with the PM 5.0 rescue floppy. Went into PM and deleted all the partitions; including both the 7.8 MB hidden ntfs and 20 GB active primary. So all that was left was the unallocated ~310 GB. Then exited PM, put in the XP cd and re-booted. Upon boot-up the computer read the Windows XP cd and started again thru the text setup routine (i.e. F8, if you agree, blah, blah). Came to the step where it asked about whether I wanted to create a partition, delete a partition or choose an area to install XP. In previous setup attempts at this point I had created a partition and tried to install XP on those partitions [which didn't work]. This time I selected to merely install XP on the unallocated space. XP said okay and asked if I wanted to format either with quick or long ntfs. I chose long [took about an hour], the formating occurred and XP installed.

It's my understanding that the XP operating system has some utility to allow partitioning of drives. If that's the case and XP plays nice upon my next power-up, then everything will be fine.

Things would have gone so much easier with the initial install if Windows simply had a little bit better directions in their manual.

[The Wise Monkey]

Thats kinda weird - it usually allows you to create partitions during that first stage.

Anywho, you can use the XP Disk Management snap-in to edit your partitions. To get here, go to Run... on the start menu and type mmc. Then go to file, add/remove snap-in, add... and choose Disk Management. This is a useful tool that enables you to mess around with your partitions within windows.

You might encounter some issues with the whole thing being a primary partition, so you might need to use that Cute PM software I suggested, but this should work fine.

Glad you got it sorted in the end though.

[Prof_Plum]

Turns out I couldn't partition the drive in XP's Disk Management utility [maybe because it was a primary]. So, I had to go back with Partition Magic and remake a 20GB partition and leave the rest unallocated. While this is pretty much what I had done originally when setup gave me the non-compatible XP partition message, on this most recent occasion, setup didn’t give me the ‘error’ message and setup asked to format the 20GB with NTFS. It did and XP installed. The only obvious difference between this time [when it worked] and the earlier time [when it didn’t] was that the 20GB partition I created this time was first in line and previously was the third listed.

Upon XP install I went into the disk management utility, and was able to partition and format the unallocated space as I’d wanted.

Not related to XP, but the only other problem that crept up was when I was installing the SBC global/Yahoo connection wizard. Every time upon install, I lost my explorer.exe file – to where all my icons and taskbar would disappear during final windows desktop load. Eventually I got around this by not installing the wizard, but that took most of Sat to figure out the problem and the solution. Thank goodness there’s ‘restore’ feature of XP.

[The Wise Monkey]

Heh, been there mate. XD