xp install on an old machine

[werldhed]

My school gave me free copies of windows XP and XP64. I don't have a use for the 64 version, but for shits and giggles I decided to install XP on an old system I have lying around.
However, setup stops at about 2/3 the way through the Preparing Installation step. Basically, it keeps thinking indefinitely at this step, without making progress.

Any ideas of what's happening? It's a P3 (766 Mhz) with 128Mb RAM. I think 128 is the minimum required for XP, but I don't think this is what the problem is. Any ideas would be appreciated.
TIA.

[raw]

A bad or dirty cd or bad hardware.

[werldhed]

I was thinking it might be the cd. The system runs tip-top (at least, for a 6 year old computer), so I'd expect the hardware to be functioning well.
When I get a chance, I might try reinstalling XP on another machine, to see if it's a problem with the disc.

[raw]

Or you could just put the CD in your XP machine, make a new directory, copy the entire contents of the cd to the directory, extracting the boot.img file, and re-burning it.

If you have errors copying the CD in Windows, the CD is most likely bad.

[CheapAlert]

it's gotta be the cd

i've had xp installed on a p2 233mhz before

[Foo]

I've had this happen on old PCs where the hard drive cables were dodgy, the ATA controllers were fucked on the motherboard, the CD was dirty, the power supply was funky..... any and all of the above.

Raw's suggestion is worth trying.

[werldhed]

Well, I copied the CD without any problem and tried using the copy to install xp.
Nope. Stuck at the same place as before. Incidently, it occurs while the installer is "analyzing your system."

Any other suggestions? I did a reinstall of win98 a couple of months ago, and that worked fine, so I don't know what's going on with this.

[Scourge]

I don't have a use for the 64 version,

I do.

[+JuggerNaut+]

for what?

[primaltheory]

He has a use for the 64 bit version of windows, made to take advantage of teh 64bitness...

[Scourge]

for what?

Athlon 64 3000+

[+JuggerNaut+]

OOOH i didn't know you upgraded

[Scourge]

Yessir, about a month ago. The kids now have the old Athlon 2200+

[FragaGeddon]

Werlhed: scourge34 will give you a free blowjob for the 64 bit version.
He'll bend over for you also.

[+JuggerNaut+]

Werlhed: scourge34 will give you a free blowjob for the 64 bit version.
He'll bend over for you also.

YOU gave him that Audigy, didn't you?

[Scourge]

Actually, I'll give him 20 pennies and a used q-tip.

[+JuggerNaut+]

that's too generous for him

[primaltheory]

dude, that q-tip had a gram of the purest coke in the world on it, wayyy to generous of him...

[werldhed]

Buuuummp...
I finally got it to work (I had stopped trying until this weekend when my father asked if he could have my old machine).

This problem won't apply to anyone, but I thought I'd share the solution anyway.
It turned out to be my Sony CD-R drive. I had only tried unplugging it when I first was trying to install XP, but that didn't work; so this time I removed all traces of it and its driver from Windows.

This got me through the installation and up to the reboot, at which point it would hang at a blank screen prior to loading XP.
This had me stumped for a while until I realized that earlier I had changed my BIOS off of "Boot from CD" :icon32:

I got XP to load and finish installing, but it continued to hang before loading on reboot. The only way around was to boot from CD each time.
This time, it turned out to be a BIOS update issue. So I went online, got the update, flashed the BIOS, and we all lived happily ever after.


Anyway, thanks everyone for the suggestions.

[werldhed]

(btw, sorry scourge... I'm giving my father my copy of XP, and keeping xp64 for myself. )