upgrade to windows 7

[HotRats]

OP, you may have a faulty disc or drive. Try copying the Windows disc and see if the copy will install. Try squirting some compressed air into the open drive in case dust is preventing the laser reading correctly. Try turning off hard drive booting in the BIOS instead of just changing the priority. Coincidentally I've just gone from socket 939/XP to socket 1156/Windows7 and I do like the new version, some things that I'd become used to in XP are missing but it makes up for that in shininess. I'd say you're going to want at least 4GB of RAM with 7 and you may want to consider the new SATA 6gbps/USB3 boards (no practical use yet but its nice to have the sockets). If anyone's stuck for codecs for 7 try http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html

[molson1138]

Originally Posted by Eddie2u

How long did you wait? I remember 2 computers that I upgraded to windows 7 for friends that would just sit there frozen at the "starting windows" screen for up to 10 minutes than just resume into the install.

This is what I was going to ask. I definitely recommend upgrading to Win 7 if you can. It's much better than XP IMO. One of the things that does bug me about it though is when installing there are periods where it seemingly does nothing but does not have any status on the screen. The first time I installed I thought something went wrong but I left it and it eventually finished the install.

[rarredoa]

Originally Posted by molson1138

This is what I was going to ask. I definitely recommend upgrading to Win 7 if you can. It's much better than XP IMO. One of the things that does bug me about it though is when installing there are periods where it seemingly does nothing but does not have any status on the screen. The first time I installed I thought something went wrong but I left it and it eventually finished the install.

I left for the gym on one occasion, came back home well over an hour later, and nothing had happened. Another thing that makes me suspicious is the fact that my HDD and drive LED's were not flashing.

Since the OP date, I've reinstalled xp (this time PRO) because i got hit with a nasty trojan, that XP home was unable to recover from. I am going to try to install windows 7 again, just for kicks.

[JediFonger]

actually you SHOULD disconnect the SECOND drive. this is the same exact behavior that occured on Windows Vista installs as well.

once you remove it, the install will work.

these are stupid idiosyncrasies that MS never fixed.

the other stupid thing that held up my install previously (i hope they fixed it since) is if i have 4GB RAM i can't install 64. i have to do it with 2GB first, then 4GB. the rumour is that it's been fixed since VSP1.

the other thing i heard about the above is that it doesn't occur for everyone. there's somn about AMD chipsets that make it go nuts. it might not occur w/certain combos or maybe just intels.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by JediFonger

actually you SHOULD disconnect the SECOND drive. this is the same exact behavior that occured on Windows Vista installs as well.

once you remove it, the install will work.

these are stupid idiosyncrasies that MS never fixed.

the other stupid thing that held up my install previously (i hope they fixed it since) is if i have 4GB RAM i can't install 64. i have to do it with 2GB first, then 4GB. the rumour is that it's been fixed since VSP1.

the other thing i heard about the above is that it doesn't occur for everyone. there's somn about AMD chipsets that make it go nuts. it might not occur w/certain combos or maybe just intels.

I upgraded from Vista 64 to Windows 7 64 and had no problems.

I also had both my SATA drives connected, did not cause any problems, nor did my 4gb of RAM.

But I also have an Intel Quad core, not an AMD?

[sfmarine]

I had no idea Microsoft didn't support BD technology..that sucks. So much for Windows Media player. I don't have a BD drive yet but I'm glad I held off.