Computer Guru's I need your help..
 

So im installing Windows Xp home on my grandmothers computer.. It starts installing and everytime no matter what half way thru I get the blue screen of death saying "Unmountable System Volume" and that installalation has stopped..

Im upgrading from windows 98se to Windows Xp home using the Windows Xp home upgrade disk they sell. I tried using FDISK clearing the partition and formating and still the same...

I even reinstalled 98se to see if a clear install would rid the computer of the problems and yet still the same deal.


Could it be that the Harddrive is toast?

Anyways - your comments are appreciated

Thanks in Advance..:shrugs:

I don't think you have enough space on your harddrive to install XP on your grandma's pc.......................someone correct me or back me up on that?

**** upgrading

backup her stuff, do a clean format, and start from scratch

You think that will work? I was thinking that if she was running 98, the pc might be pretty old.

Brain is right. The HD likely doesn't have the space.

Thanks Steve and thanks for calling me Brain too!

LOL

LOL! And you thought it was a typo...

What are the specs on the computer (i.e. HD space, RAM, processor spd)? Also is the HD NTFS, FAT32, or what?

you need to get a seagate motherboard.

That's quite a generalization. At work some machines are P4's and run WIN98.

Why have Win 9x on a P4?

Its a athlon 950mhz with 128 megs of ram and 20 gigs.. so it should be enough...Dont ask me why they had 98se on there but it ran like a turd. I think they didnt want to spend the money on xp at the time.. I formated it NTFS..

The only reason i went with the windows xp upgrade disk is because its 120 bucks less retail.. basically if you have an existing windows installed you can just upgrade to xp and save the money. Thats why i did a clean install of 98se to see if that was the problem - but still the blue screen of doom and "Unmountable System Volume"

Again thanks for the help

When you have a 100+ computer network that's setup to run WIN98 machines, and their primary function is autocad 2000 design, then there's no need to upgrade to XP. We're in the process of slowly changing over to XP in order to use ACAD 2004 & 2006 versions within the new year. Such a changeover can't be done within a short time span. There's other programs that will have communication errors with the server if we only do a few machines at a time, everything has to be done at once. Also network sharing problems can be a big issue. So far we've got 4-5 XP machines on our network while the rest are 98.

So in a nutshell thats why a win98 machine is on a p4. If it were up to me I'd have the top of the line ATI/NVIDIA cards on all the machines, just for lunch-time gaming purposes. :D

You need a qualifying product for an upgrade install..

all you need is the 98 cd..

repartition using the xp utility..

it will ask for a qualifying product..

insert 98 cd..

remove 98 cd and reinsert xp cd..

continue on..

Might wanna make sure the hardware is in the HCL.

English please.. Im fairly good with computers but not that amazing.

About the repartition xp utility - do i just boot from the xp cd? And then use the repair function or?


ahh hardware compatibility list..
Thanks

:dito:



Knowing the HD space would be good too. But if the XP install don't workie, go back 98. Win98 is wicked anyways. And my downstairs PC from 99 was upgraded to XP (originally with Win98). Works great, no problems, better than most lowend PC's being sold now.

Alright I shall help you out here.

Give this a shot basically what 94EG6HB said in english.
Boot up your computer with the Windows XP CD and install normally. ( So that means your not installing XP through Windopws 98)
You will get the Format Hardrive screen and basically make one partition and format it with NTFS

Now since its an upgrade Edition before the Windows XP setup begins, it will ask for a location of a previous version of windows. At this point pop in Any Windows CD 2000 or older and let the Windows XP setup search the cd for that previous version of windows. After that is done you can re-insert the XP cd and it should install fine.

If it doesn't then I am going to venture a guess and say that there may be bad sectors on the hard drive and the Windows XP setup isn't able to right to the hard drive. The Drive has more then enough space so it can't be a space problem.

Oh when you boot from the PC do not use the repair function.. I can't remember what it looks like again, but there should be another option that starts a clean install