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MacnOOb · Jul 17, 2007, 12:58 PM

I have a brand new iMac and a legit copy of FULL Win XP Home (with sp2).

Everything seems to work fine until I go to the windows setup process. I get this blue screen error about Session 3 and windows doesn't want to "damage" my computer and wants to restart. I am taking my computer into work so I will post more info on this error if it happens again...but it could be something very common.

I basically have to force a restart because it freezes. What could be the problem? I am sure I have updated all the firmware and software updates on my Macintosh so that can't be the problem. The windows disc doesn't seem to be damaged. Any and all suggestion would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

olePigeon · Jul 17, 2007, 01:49 PM

Have you tried reinstalling it? Could've just been a bad install.

MacnOOb · Jul 17, 2007, 03:25 PM

Here is the message i am getting, I have tried it 4 times so far : (

A problem has been detected and windows has shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE

If this is the first time you have seen this, restart, if not follow these steps:

blah blah blah, relates to only PC's

STOP: 0x000000006 (0x000000, 0x0000 and something like that)

I hope I just didn't throw away 200 dollars in buying Win XP. If that is the case then I learned my lesson regarding buying legit copies of software.

ghporter · Jul 17, 2007, 04:26 PM

Buying legitimate software is NOT the problem. But there are a few things about Windows that makes installation often the most difficult part of the whole OS.

Do you have ANYTHING but a keyboard and mouse plugged into the iMac? Are they plugged into separate USB ports? There are a number of reports of people having a variety of installation problems due to the way the Windows OS installer looks at USB devices, so this could be part of your problem.

You could always back up and start over: use the Boot Camp Utility to restore your disk to a single partition, then use it again to create a new Windows partition.

MacnOOb · Jul 17, 2007, 04:47 PM

Well what I meant by that is that if all else fails I won't be able to returned open copies.

However, my friend at work tried to install his copy of professional to see if it was the disc I bought was bad. Turns out professional installed perfectly well. Could it be Home edition or the disc? I hope the people at Office Depot are nice enough let me exchange for a new copy (however I did grab the last copy at the store last night so there is another issue)

badidea · Jul 20, 2007, 04:30 AM

Did you get this error after you tried to upgrade an existing Windows installation?

I just had the error 2 days ago and after a few restarts it changed to some weird .dll error for which I found out that it usually indicates faulty hardware...on a PC...but on a Mac it just means that something went wrong with the bootcamp partition! The only thing that helps is repartitioning your HD with bootcamp and reinstalling WindowsXP (Vista didn't care that much, as I also foud out)!!

ghporter · Jul 20, 2007, 07:42 AM

XP Home uses the same installer, but installs a subset of the XP Pro code-basically you get a few less features. The core of the OS is identical. If you bring in apparently defective media the retailer should at least do an even exchange.

And you haven't answered my question about what you had plugged into your computer. As I said, Windows' installer has issues with USB enumeration when there is more than just a keyboard and mouse connected.

starjimmy · Sep 10, 2007, 12:50 AM

I also encounter similar problem when installing XP-Pro SP2 on a MacBook. Yet, when I do the installation, I only have power cord plug in...

ghporter · Sep 10, 2007, 05:58 AM

The Windows installer will not mention if a file it copies doesn't copy correctly-you only find this out when you try to run something-or when the next step in the install process fails. And the optical drives in Intel Macs tend to be pretty sensitive to sometimes minute flaws like fingerprints-if you haven't done this yet, try cleaning the install disc very thoroughly and then trying again.

starjimmy, "only have power cord plug in..."? Do you mean you don't have the battery installed? That could make a difference... Or are you saying that you're simply using the laptop's keyboard and trackpad?

starjimmy · Sep 10, 2007, 06:56 PM

sorry for the confusing post I had earlier.
By that, I mean I did not plug in anything into the USB and simply use the keyboard and touchpad on the machine

ghporter · Sep 10, 2007, 08:12 PM

Ok. Clean the disc and start over. That "should" work for you. For what it's worth, I've seen legit, fresh from the store Windows discs that took forever to get to install on a particular machine, but when I replaced that one with a somewhat newer motherboard and processor from a different company, the same disc worked great. Some machines are just more sensitive to variations in the disc.