Laptop Stalls When Re-intalling XP Pro 1

[NorstarOption]

I'm Reinstalling XP pro on my IBM T20 laptop. For some reason the installation stalls when it gets to "Installing Devices". I rebooted and try to repartition the drive, but now my laptop now dies when the system ask to partition or Install.

 

[linney]

When you says it dies, is it able to give you some message as to why?

The drive manufacturer will have free diagnostic software on their site which will thoroughly check the condition of your hard drive.

Why are you re-installing, is there a bit of history with this laptop?

Windows XP SP1 Installation Stops Responding with 34 Minutes Remaining

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815319#appliesto

What recovery software does the IBM T20 have, are there recovery partitions, recovery CD's, or are you using a Retail XP CD? Laptops have many special drivers not ordinarily found on a Retail CD.

Have you tried setting the Bios to Safe Defaults and disabling any Bios scanning if it has such a thing?

Removing any easily disconnected hardware such as USB etc. might help, but not if it is a problem with some failing hardware.

 

[goombawaho]

Also, turn OFF built-in wireless if there is a switch on the laptop. I don't think a T20 had built-in, but just something to add to Linney's list for ANYONE having a similar problem.

 

[NorstarOption]

I don't have anything connected to this laptop. My laptop will not boot up anymore and it doesnt give me any error. It just stops on Windows logo with the bar going back and forth. I reformatted the hd and tried installing xp pro sp1, sp2 and sp3. System hangs at the same point and minutes left on the installation window. I tried a different HD and ram, but still the same problem. I also tried loading linux ubuntu and mandriva. It hangs also on those 2 linux os.

 

[linney]

Sounds a bit serious from the circumstances you describe, perhaps it is time to take it in for repairs?

Troubleshooting by topic - ThinkPad

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4YRRG6

 

[kjv1611]

If you've tried different HDDs, RAM, AND diff OSes, then yes, your issue sounds to be something possibly with the mainboard or CPU most likely, if it's causing it to hang.

And depending on the age of the thing, it might just be time to send it off to computer heaven. [WINK]

You can pick up a brand new, plenty powerful enough for most people, laptop for as little as $600 to $700 these days - sometimes less. Usually if you drop below say $600, then you'll be getting REALLY into the "value" line, where they typically have too little RAM to run hardly MS Word on Windows Vista.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[NorstarOption]

Thanks y'all for the time. Any recommendations for a new good laptop. Basically for home use, browsing the internet and mostly organizing and making slideshow with tons of pictures. I'm just lost of what type of CPU is good. I'm still use of Pentium 1 through 4. I don't know what to check now. The number are so high T5550 and so on.

 

[kjv1611]

My opinions:

Laptop Brands (probably any is fine, really), but I prefer these:

Dell - overall, I think is the best "experience" if you will, and the price for what you get
Toshiba
HP perhaps - their current offerings seem good, but I didn't care for them much in the past.

For the CPU, really, anything that is Core 2 .... will suffice, I'm sure.

I'd go ahead and get one with at least 1 GB or 2 GB RAM installed, or either buy that later and install myself - it's actually quite easy on most laptops.

To give you an example on the CPU, my current laptop is a Toshiba running a Core 2 Duo at 1.6Ghz (it's a T5500 or something like that, I believe). Our old (just replaced actually) "media pc" at church for the audio/video stuff is a Pentium 4D clocked at 3Ghz or 3.xGhz.

Well, I can use HDVSplit to record video WITH preview mode (if I put the laptop in "high performance" mode) with no glitches. However, no matter what I did on the P4D desktop, I couldn't use preview mode. Hi-Def video is highly CPU intensive.

If you plan on doing any gaming on the laptop, it'd be worth considering a dedicated GPU. Otherwise, I'd only look for that if I were going to leave it plugged into an AC outlet most of the time. If you're going to just keep it literally in your lap or somewhere not connected to any wires, then I'd suggest not getting the dedicated graphics.

Hard Drive wise, probably anything in a new laptop will do great. They've actually now had 5000 RPM hard drives outperforming 7200 RPM lapotp hard drives. I will say that the hard drive can make a difference, but if you're just web browsing and stuff you might not notice any difference from one to another. But my wife only looks at family pictures and email pretty much on our laptop, and she noticed a big difference after I upgraded our hard drive and RAM. So, it was 2 things at once - upgraded the speed and size of both.

For a good deal, you can always find a nice Dell on eBay.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[kjv1611]

Another thought is a good place to look for reviews.

What you could do is find a model you like, and then search for reviews on it.

http://www.notebookreview.com

has lots of laptop reviews and related, and they also have links to deals and other reviews, I believe. And they have a ranking listed on the site, based on the number of inquiries for a model.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me