Really need help on this one.......Laptop XP installation

[GhostRider]

Mornin',

So I formatted my g/f laptop because it was well cluttered and had some malware/spyware/cack installed depp into it that no software seemed to shift. She'd had it for a few years and it had never been formatted so I figured a complete wipe would have it running smooth again.

Banged in a XP disc, formatted the drive, setup install. All was going well until it came to the installation screen where it says "setup will complete in approximately XX minutes".
At this point there comes up an error message. It says:

"The signature for windows XP professional setup is invalid. The error code is 800b0100. NO signature was present in the subject"

I have tried multiple different versions of XP, even a Vista installation, I have done a full format of the hard disk. After a bit of research myself I figured the memory could be bad, so I ran memtest which showed no errors, but I purchased some new memory anyway just to rule it out, tried the one new stick in both slots and still the same problem.

At this point I am completely out of ideas and am beginning to think I might have to tell the missus I bricked her laptop...

....so can any of the wise BCF elite help me out of this scrape?

Cheers,

GhostRider

[T1z3R]

can you swap out the optical drive?
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[The Shaggy D.A.]

Are there any other partitions on the hard drive? There might be a service partition you could make active and see what's in there. I'd be tempted to remove all partitions and recreate a fresh one. You could also try copying the contents of the CD to the hard drive and installing from there.
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[GhostRider]

[T1z3R]

there should only be two screws holding the drive in then it pops out the side.

i only mention it as ive had problems on a couple of machines that failed to install due to the drive.
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duck my sick!

[GhostRider]

[MaybeGuy]

at a guess...

Is it a branded laptop like a dell or compaq that has its own OS so to speak? It could be programmed in BIOS to only accept certain manufacturers OSs'.

You could try flashing the bios using model specific software rather than the branded stuff.

Or, what i've found works 99% of the time, install windows 98 then upgrade it.
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[T1z3R]

you would need another laptop drive unless you have a USB one.
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[Neorion]

Ok I personally would stay away from bios updates etc. In my experience this is not what Pc/laptop makers do. But as always I could be wrong.

What they can do is put whats called a "tattoo" on the system so you have to run the tattoo commands to access hidden areas on a drive. Packard bell were bad for this.

You could try the upgrade route as well.

Try this though, go into the biod of the laptop and make sure that the 1st boot is the CD (hear me out) then make sure there are no options about writing to boot sectors or drive protection or any other security (features) turned on.

You do need to use a laptop harddrive they are smalled and use different connectors. It is a pretty good possibility that this is the problem.

You can confirm there are no other partitions on the drive?

Has your missus ever had the laptop rebuilt before? Was it XP or ME?
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[Alexio]

To me this is also sounding like an optical drive problem. Any standard laptop optical drive would work to be honest, they are definitely a plug and play part if you can find another one. I've had to do this in a hundred laptops already.

Seeming as you've ruled out the installation disk and the memory there's normally nothing left. BIOS territory is usually complete crap. If you really want to test if the BIOS stops certain operating systems from being installed / booting up then what you want to do is boot up from a linux live CD. It's a fairly thorough way of testing booting and executing from a CD as well.

The only other thing is possibly the hard drive. You said it was formatted but while unlikely it doesn't stop it from being faulty.

So my advice is to test booting up a linux operating system. If it doesn't manage it then at the very least the kernel will give you an interesting error that may shed some light. There are also a ton of other diagnostic bootable disks out there that will test things you couldn't even think about (obscure things like the CPU cache).
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[GhostRider]

Thanks for all the replies so far guys.

I think the next port of call will be to try to fid another cd drive and see how that pans out. I'll also try the 98 update if I can aquire a copy, though I've tried multiple versions of XP both SP1 and SP2 so I am sceptical as to whether 98 would install either.

There are no other partitions on the drives, I deleted all partitions and created new ones which I then fully formatted so I think I can rule that out.

The laptop is a fujitsu siemens, it did cross my mind that they might have fashioned it to only accept manufacturers OS but I'm doubting it for now.

I'd like to avoid any BIOS business if possible as it's dodgy territory as far as properly bricking the system goes in my experience, I've had a gander around the BIOS setup and as far as I could see there was nothing incriminating in there but i shall peruse again at the security settings just in case.

I'll let you know how I get on as and when but thanks for the advice, karma shall be reaped for all

GhostRider

[The Artist]

While the Setup program is running, and while the error message still appears on the screen, press SHIFT+F10 to start a command prompt.
At the command prompt, type cd\windows\system32\, and then press ENTER.
Type rename catroot2 catold, press ENTER, and then restart the computer.
Try again to finish the upgrade.

[bEN_]

[GhostRider]

[T1z3R]

im guessing your down south somewhere which is a shame cos you could have borrowed a drive or two from me to try. its a quick diagnosis if you have one around.

id consider trying the ubuntu live cd suggestion as well as its only a 600ish mb download.
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duck my sick!

[GhostRider]

I know a few people with laptops that I could source from...............it's convincing them to let me take them apart thats the tricky part!

GhostRider

[el_oso]

or puppy linux.
55mb
can install from a flash drive
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[sickpup]

Have run into this problem or something VERY similar to it in the past.
What size does the drive appear to be in the BIOS and what size does WinXP report it as in the setup?

If I am right you have a hidden partition that stops you installing from a copy of WinXP and the hard drive will only accept a recovery disc. Problem now is you have trashed the recovery part on the C drive so it can no longer access the hidden partition making it a bitch of a job to actually wipe the hidden partition so you can do a re-install.

[tykey]

is it a sata or ide hard disk? cos xp doesnt have native support for sata.

[GhostRider]

[tykey]

[tykey]

sorry, ignore my posts, it would help if i read a thread properly. your install wouldve failed long before when it did if it was a sata/sp issue... plus u state you've already tried vista and it didnt work.

[GhostRider]

Ok so I tried that puppy Linux, booted from the disc, it worked fine, had an operating system up, and had a go at typing a in a document program, seemed to be fine.

So......could this therefore rule out the possibility that the system is being prevented from installing an OS by default?

Since the linux booted from the CD, does this therefore rule out optical drive problems?

If this is the case then I'm kind of back to square one....

GhostRider

[Alexio]

It kind of does rule out optical drive problems yes. Still, at least it means you can probably install any version of Linux that you like I'd personally recommend Ubuntu.
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will never give up his CG. I look at my fuel gauge more as a progress bar than a fuel gauge.
G: With my GSXR I do often effectively use it as a scooter with a clutch in town.
ms51ves3: why does it need 500 miles? Are you teaching it how to be a piston?

[GhostRider]

Were the system mine then yeah I'd probably just live with it, however, the missus aint gonna wanna hear any of it.

Last resort is to try ther 98 upgrade thingy.

Fucking microsoft, bunch of cunts I tell thee.

GhostRider