Windows xp cd error loading operating system?

booey1 · 16 Feb 2013 at 15:11

So I have just bought a secondhand Q6600 and Foxconn MCP73M04 Socket 775 Motherboard with 2gb ram, yey!

It posts and seems to work fine, but when I try and install xp from the CD i get this error:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326676

What can I do? Is the mobo faulty? Do I need to change something in the bios?

Any help would be very much appreciated

FallshirmjAEger · 16 Feb 2013 at 17:53

Does it have the latest service pack version included on the cd?

kitfit1 · 16 Feb 2013 at 18:16

Is the hard disc that you want to install XP on a Sata HDD or an IDE HDD ?
If it's a Sata HDD you will need to press F6 when prompted and install the Sata driver before you install XP, otherwise the install disc will not be able to find a HDD to load the instalation files to.

booey1 · 17 Feb 2013 at 10:34

Thanks vey much for your help. It's xp sp1 and the HDD is IDE.

Any thoughts?

Deleted member 77746 · 17 Feb 2013 at 10:47

You should really get a disc or download with SP3 integrated and burn a fresh copy.

mame · 17 Feb 2013 at 11:11

could be the RAM. I've seen similar a couple of times. Try it with 1 stick of RAM at a time.

wonko · 17 Feb 2013 at 11:17

I presume the HDD is set as being the first boot device in the bios?

From a quick search, that mobo looks to be from a packard bell machine (IX9600?) so getting the specs, latest BIOS and drivers might be difficult.

To add a couple of other suggestions, I would try going back to square one with fully wiped drive (no existing partitions etc. to possibly confuse things) and default bios default settings and try again. If that doesn't work then I'd probably try installing a linux distro as a test and try running some diagnostics.

Good luck! Let us know how you get on.

nightmare99 · 17 Feb 2013 at 11:44

Thanks vey much for your help. It's xp sp1 and the HDD is IDE.

This is your problem, get an SP3 integrated version.

mame · 17 Feb 2013 at 13:26

nightmare99 said:
This is your problem, get an SP3 integrated version.

Why would that stop it working? Did win XP SP1 never work?

booey1 · 17 Feb 2013 at 14:28

Thanks for the tips, I can't seem to find a safe download xp sp3 intergrated though...

booey1 · 17 Feb 2013 at 14:29

You are right about the ix9600 though and I can load into ubuntu from USB. What should I try next?

wonko · 17 Feb 2013 at 16:31

booey1 said:
You are right about the ix9600 though and I can load into ubuntu from USB. What should I try next?

Have you tried installing ubuntu onto the hard disk and booting from it? If that works then it points to some compatibility issue with xp. As suggested by others I'd run memtest etc to try to rule out hardware faults.

How is the disk showing up in bios - does it show with the correct size etc? It might be worth putting it on a different IDE controller to see what happens.

I had a quick google for the KB article number and SP3 and didn't find any results suggesting that SP3 would fix this problem.

booey1 · 17 Feb 2013 at 17:50

Okay, so tried taking out the HDD and installing xp using another computer, all worked okay, but once I put it back in the q6600 same error: "error loading operating system"

I'll reload ubuntu and try memtest next.

The disk shows up in the bios as primary hdd and correct size. I only have 1 IDE connector on the mobo, is that what you mean when you say "putting it on a different IDE controller?"

Thanks, anymore ideas?

wonko · 17 Feb 2013 at 18:50

booey1 said:
The disk shows up in the bios as primary hdd and correct size. I only have 1 IDE connector on the mobo, is that what you mean when you say "putting it on a different IDE controller?"

OK, I was thinking you might have more than one IDE connector so forget that bit

Have you managed to find the latest bios and drivers for the motherboard? It's possible that it's an odd disk controller that needs a driver to be loaded as windows installs.

Otherwise, could you use a SATA drive, or use a PCI/PCIe card with a bootable IDE interface?

booey1 · 17 Feb 2013 at 20:49

wonko said:
I'd run memtest etc to try to rule out hardware faults.

Okay have run memtest 'Pass complete no errors'

All I can find is that the ixtreme x9600 seems to have a foxconn MCP73M04 motherboard, but I can't find drivers or a bios flash

booey1 · 17 Feb 2013 at 20:52

Also the motherboard shows on ubuntu as a: packard bell bv mcp 73

booey1 · 17 Feb 2013 at 21:17

Yikes, now after running memtest I have restarted and there is no gpu output! Just tried 2 screens and a different card. CPU, GPU, PSU fans all running, hdd running. Can't tell if it is posting as there is no speaker connection. This is becoming a real nightmare. Any idea what could have caused that? Obviously I am being careful about static and double checking connections...

wonko · 17 Feb 2013 at 21:50

Tried clearing the cmos memory?

Guess you've found this:
http://www.packardbell.co.uk/pb/en/GB/content/download
All you need is the PT.U model number of the pc it came out of...

There should be software tools you can run under ubuntu which will better identify the hardware and help work out what bios/drivers are relevant, but it's probably an nVidea MCP73 / nForce 7 chipset on the mobo which you might be able to find IDE controller drivers for. Whether they would help is another matter of course.

booey1 · 18 Feb 2013 at 11:28

wonko said:
Tried clearing the cmos memory?

Guess you've found this:
http://www.packardbell.co.uk/pb/en/GB/content/download
All you need is the PT.U model number of the pc it came out of...

I did try clearing the cmos, will try again tonight. I don't see how I can find the PT.U model number?

wonko · 18 Feb 2013 at 12:36

booey1 said:
I did try clearing the cmos, will try again tonight. I don't see how I can find the PT.U model number?

Can't help on the PT.U number but if/when it's booting again maybe you can find the BIOS version/date as it boots and see if it matches any PCs BIOSes listed for a model in the range?

I have had a PC that intermittently refused to cold boot but would boot after a couple of presses of the reset button... ISTR it was linked to the memory voltage and which slots were used. (The memory needed >1.8V but the spd didn't seem to be read properly). This may be completely unrelated to your problem but it might be worth checking the voltage spec of the memory and trying different memory and/or 1 stick in different slots.

Other than that I'm running out of new ideas

.