[crincon]

First, hello to everyone,
I'm new in this forum and I'm looking for some help.

Recently my computer crashed and it could not restart the system (Windows XP Media Edition SP3) anymore, first it said the ntldr file was missing, so I decided to avoid the mess and reinstall the whole system since my working files are safe in another drive.

The big problem is that for some reason the Windows XP SP3 installer always freezes when it reads that there are 34 minutes left to finish the installation and while there is a progress bar that reads something like "Installing devices". I tried several times, I tried after re-formatting the entire disk and I tried with both Windows XP Pro SP3 and Windows XP Media Edition SP3 and it always freezes at that stage.

I'd like to know what is causing this problem as I have installed XP SP3 several times before with no incidents and how this issue can be fixed.

My computer is a 3 year old Intel Pentium 4, 768MB RAM 2.4Ghz with an Intel D848PMB Motherboard.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

Carlos R.

[Mak213]

How long do you leave it at those stages? They do take roughly 10-15 minutes at those stages to get the progress bar moving. Since your system is just above the minimum requirements for XP (256MB RAM being minimum) it will take some time for the installer to work. It wont be a instant process.

[superdave1984]

Test your RAM with Memtest86 - Download Page

[crincon]

Mak213:
After the second try I left it for over one hour to see it could still continue but nothing happened.

[Mak213]

Did you do a full format when the time came?

[crincon]

Yes I did a full format with two drives, but in the end after hours of internet research and several tries I found out the root of the problem was the floppy drive IDE cable (that explained why I could run a memtest as superdave1984 suggested), apparently it's not working so I removed it and everything went on fine, I finished the install and replaced the cable and the floppy drive is working great (not that I depend big on it, but anyway :laughing: ).

I've lost quite some time with this ordeal but things are back on their way. I appreciate your advices, they've been a big help. I'll try to stay tuned to this forum for any further problems and perhaps helping others on whatever I can. Thanks!