[zarkpros]

I will attempt to be as concise as possible, despite the evolving nature of this problem and my numerous varied efforts at solving it.

Starting from the beginning:

I have a Dell XPS Desktop purchased in the summer of 2005. Its stats:

-Windows XP Media Center Edition, SP2
-Pentium 4, 3.4GHz
-1 GB RAM
-250GB SATA Western Digital HD

So I want to install Vista because I can get it for free from my school. But I don't want to get rid of XP, since I've heard shaky things about Vista, and XP runs fine (except for the 15-minute startup time). To pursue this end, I purchased a new hard drive (Western Digital SATA 250GB; basically the same type as the original HD, with a faster transfer rate). The idea is that I'll set up a dual boot system with Vista on the new HD, while maintaining the old XP installation on the old HD.

The problem first appeared when I attempted to install Vista on the new hard drive. Installing by either booting from the Vista DVD and starting the installation from within XP produced the same unfortunate result: the installation would finish "copying files" and move on to "expanding files". Once in the "expanding files" process, it would proceed to 37% completion and freeze. After 20-30 minutes frozen there, an error message would appear with the code 0x80070003, claiming that the required file could not be located. The only thing to do at that point was to restart. After restarting, a BIOS error message would appear, claiming that the new HD was no longer detected. It would continue not to be detected until such time as the computer's power was physically turned off. However, after turning the computer off and back on, the drive would appear again as if nothing had happened.

I decided that the problem had to be with the new HD (overheating, I guessed), so I arranged for a replacement drive on Western Digital's website. The new one came and produced the exact same problem. I talked on the phone with Western Digital for some time, and they suggested the new SATA cable I had bought for the new drive might be defective. So I bought a new cable, then another, then I decided to use the SATA cable that used to be attached to the old HD, knowing that it has worked perfectly for almost two years. (Incidentally, the new cables work perfectly with the old HD). The new cable did at first seem to have a positive effect: the Vista installation completed! Hurray! I started using Vista, and it worked just perfectly.....for about 2 hours. After that much time (varying from 30 minutes to fully 8 hours at one point), the following happens: everything freezes (except cursor movement, which still works) for anywhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes, then a blue screen appears (for about 5 seconds, with no text or error messages), then the computer restarts and the BIOS recognition problem returns.

So, I got the second new HD replaced by Western Digital. They sent me a new drive of a slightly better model (320 GB instead of 250), since they were totally baffled by the problem. The new HD has not changed the problem.

Other things I have tried:

-plugging the new HD into all of the four SATA ports on the motherboard (including the known good one that the old HD was plugged into)

-plugging in only the new HD and unplugging the old HD completely (even though this would not be useful in the long run, since I want to dual boot)

-using the new SATA-style power (2 different power cables) and an old legacy four-prong power cable

-upgrading the BIOS to the most recent version supplied by Dell

-rearranging the physical location of the drive within the desktop case (fearing that overheating was the problem)

-installing the driver for my Intel SATA/AHCI controller during the Vista installation process

-burning a new install DVD from the known good ISO file supplied by my college

Any advice anyone might have on what to do would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, and sorry that was so long!

[ohheck]

go here:
http://www.memtest.org/
d/l the program - create a boot cd from it - leave the cd in the drive and reboot (though you may have to go into the bios and set it to boot from cd first)
let it run - any errors means your RAM is bad -
(COULD) be the cause of all your problems...

[zarkpros]

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately, my memory checks out. (never thought that "unfortunately" would precede that phrase) I had tried Vista Boot Manager's memory diagnostic before, but I also tried the program you recommended. Both returned no errors.

[robomatic]

Sorry you're having such frustration. If you are plagued by that worst of all possible demons intermittent memory failure, you could be passing an easy test and flunking out over the long haul. Particularly if the room or computer heats up. See if things work early in the morning when it's cool. If things flunk more in a warmer environment, it could be something flaky somewhere

Of cou rse, you had the same comp uter running just fine with XP for a time, so this is a shot in the dark...Possibly something you did like installing a second hard drive, or a piece of hardware in a new place have changed the cooling pattern in the box, or the box is open, or, and this has happened to me, locating a hard drive in a temporary unmounted loacation has cause a cable to overlay a wire termination point, thus creating flakey behavior in the system.

[zarkpros]

Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately, I've tried the HD in various positions inside the case, and nothing changes the behavior. The most frustrating thing is that the system only fails when booting to the new HD. Nothing else will make it fail. Even with the new HD plugged in and recognized, if I'm booting to the old XP HD everything will work fine for days on end. I cannot replicate the error outside of Vista.

Seeing this, I tried to install XP Pro (with a similar academic license from my college) and its installation failed similarly to Vista's. There must be something that I'm not seeing!

[pcrepairguy]

Try some other RAM
Try another DVD drive

[ottoflux]

The trick... as long as you have HDD activity and the little dots are moving, it's likely not hung. It's just another one of M$'s lovely misleading dialogs. My P4 took well over 30 minutes to get through 21%... your mileage may vary.

[curiousmind]

XPS 400
Pentium® D Processor 830 with Dual Core Technology (3GHz, 800FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition


Hi,
I tried to install my vista over XP after making backup discs. It froze when it got to the step of "expanding the files" after 27% downloaded. So I rebooted my computer and tried to download it again. This time I got blue screen of death said "fatal harddrive error" then did nothing. So I turned the computer off. Then now I went back to see if my XP was still there and there it was. But now I couldn't install vista again from XP DVD. I also have vista CDs but I haven't tried it yet. How do I over come the freezing during installation and what is the best way to install vista? How long does it take to install the complete program? I am trying to install vista ultimate version. It seems like "ultimate death" of my computer to me. I had rebooted so many times and still unsuccessful. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!