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data2 · May 12, 2008, 01:36 PM

Hi,

I first use BC to make a 20G partition for xp. I would get a misssing or corrupt hal.dll msg when it tried to reboot to install. I retried 3-4 times, same thing.
I deleted partition, rebooted then used BC to make a 32G partition. It rebooted from the windows xp pro cd and started the install. But when it got to saving setting with 7 min remaining it just stayed there. I restarted all the process twice, no change.
Any advice?

Rumor · May 12, 2008, 02:50 PM

Check the install disc for scratches, etc.

When you get the option to format, are you using the quick format option?

data2 · May 12, 2008, 04:48 PM

The CD his scratchless and I tried both full (1st try) and quick (2nd) format.

ghporter · May 12, 2008, 04:59 PM

Your disc could be just the tiniest bit dirty or smudged with a fingerprint that you can't really see, and that would be enough for it to goober up the install process. Macs' optical drives are really fast, but they are really unforgiving to stuff on CDs, and often the simple process of cleaning the surface of the disc with an alcohol-soaked pad and drying it thoroughly will solve this sort of problem. In really odd instances, I've personally made a bit-for-bit copy of the Windows disc to a CD-R and the burned disc worked flawlessly where the original just would not work at all. Give the cleaning idea a try and see if that fixes your hang.

ibook_steve · May 12, 2008, 05:00 PM

I'm going to assume you're using an XP SP2 disk right?

Even if the disk looks like there is nothing wrong, maybe there is. Try slipstreaming (see the alt OS reference forum) a new XP install disk and see if you still have the same problem.

Steve

64stang06 · May 12, 2008, 09:40 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

I'm going to assume you're using an XP SP2 disk right?

Even if the disk looks like there is nothing wrong, maybe there is. Try slipstreaming (see the alt OS reference forum) a new XP install disk and see if you still have the same problem.

Steve

I found that making a copy of my XP SP2 disc worked better than the official Microsoft one.

ghporter · May 13, 2008, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by 64stang06

I found that making a copy of my XP SP2 disc worked better than the official Microsoft one.

Isn't that bizarre? I've seen that many times in working with XP installation discs. Somehow the disc copy software manages to extract the data from the CD better than just running the thing.

I think it has to do with the installer's CD driver (it's exceptionally generic (and old) to make it work with just about any CD drive in existence) which is pretty poor at error correction. And sometimes, the ultra-fast DVD drives in current Macs don't play well with this driver, making the problem even more troublesome.

data2 · May 13, 2008, 08:28 PM

I finally got it installed. I borrowed a friends CD and used my #. Thanks to all for your help. Oh, for the future, if I make a copy of my xp pro CD will it be bootable? What AV do you recommend? I have trend micro that I can install or is it to big?

Thx

64stang06 · May 13, 2008, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by data2

I finally got it installed. I borrowed a friends CD and used my #. Thanks to all for your help. Oh, for the future, if I make a copy of my xp pro CD will it be bootable? What AV do you recommend? I have trend micro that I can install or is it to big?

Thx

My copy is bootable. As for AV, go with ClamWin. Sure, it doesn't have real time protection (ie, if you download a file it doesn't immediately warn you if it's infected) but it uses less resources and works just as well.

ghporter · May 14, 2008, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by data2

I finally got it installed. I borrowed a friends CD and used my #. Thanks to all for your help. Oh, for the future, if I make a copy of my xp pro CD will it be bootable? What AV do you recommend? I have trend micro that I can install or is it to big?

Thx

That depends on how you make the copy. I use something like DriveImage from PowerQuest (this is a Windows app) which makes a bit-for-bit copy of the disc. ANYTHING that makes that sort of copy (rather than simply copying the visible files on the disc) should do the trick. The best way on a Mac without using third party software is to make a disc image using Disk Utility, and then burn that image onto a new CD.

Trend Micro is OK, but just OK. I'd go with ClamAV off the top of my head-it's a better performer than Trend's app and it's free and relatively small. ANY AV is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for your Windows installation! Use something, anything. But if you have access through school or work to something like Symantec's Client Security suite, go for that! Windows needs that sort of monitoring. The defaults should be for real-time monitoring, and especially you need to scan downloads.