China DOS Union

Machine: ibm thinkpad t42
System: original XP system, Ubuntu 7.10 installed in separate partition space. It had always been used normally, no problems

Now XP has developed some problems, and I want to reinstall XP, but the following happens:
Boot from the CD-ROM with the XP installation disc, press any key to boot from cd
Then after it switches over there is no response, and it cannot enter the blue XP setup screen. At this point the CD-ROM stops reading, and the hard disk light stays on

1. Tried many different XP discs and versions, no result
2. Used the Efficiency Source 3.0 CD edition to check for bad sectors, everything is normal
3. The Ubuntu 7.10 disc boots normally
4. The CD burning function is normal, and it reads discs normally. So the CD-ROM should be fine

When installing Ubuntu, grub was written into the MBR

Not too clear what is causing the inability to reinstall XP
Could it be a problem with the MBR??

I'm thinking about trying a DOS boot disk to see whether fixMBR works

Does anyone have any tricks to help me solve this problem?

Thanks, everyone

It's not an Ubuntu problem.
It would be best for you to discharge the motherboard BIOS; the manual has the method. If that still doesn't work, then you have to consider low-level formatting. A classmate's computer had this problem before, and only one old XP disc could install. I feel it has something to do with certain hard disk features enabled in the BIOS settings. You can search for information on udma and sata hard drives. It should be a hardware or hardware-settings problem. Has your hard disk data cable been moved?

If it really doesn't work, then install XP under DOS with winnt.exe.
It probably doesn't have much to do with the hard disk, no need for low-level formatting.

The causes of this problem are very complicated

If winnt.exe works, then CD installation will probably also work. You can try it, but it's best to load smartdrv first. I guess everyone knows to run this program

Originally posted by fuyan at 2007-12-5 08:39 PM:
Boot from the CD-ROM with the XP installation disc, press any key to boot from cd
Then after it switches over there is no response, and it cannot enter the blue XP setup screen. At this point the CD-ROM stops reading, and the hard disk light stays on

Does it still not move even after waiting 10 minutes?

Originally posted by shanliang8008 at 2007-12-6 07:25 PM:
It's not an Ubuntu problem.
It would be best for you to discharge the motherboard BIOS; the manual has the method. If that still doesn't work, then you have to consider low-level formatting. A classmate's computer had this problem before, and only one old XP disc could install. I feel it has something to do with cert ...

Low-level formatting? It's not that serious yet

Discharging? I'm afraid that's not suitable for a laptop

Originally posted by shanliang8008 at 2007-12-7 12:27 PM:
Does it still not move even after waiting 10 minutes?

Even 20 minutes won't do

This problem is very strange

Such a hassle, just get a GHOST XP and restore it, you can even install from the hard disk...

Originally posted by qinpin at 2007-12-7 04:59 PM:
Such a hassle, just get a GHOST XP and restore it, you can even install from the hard disk...

.......... If the mbr is XP's, you can consider it, but GHOST is not a real system disc, you'll understand later. It won't write the mbr, so with a new hard disk it won't work

A laptop????????????? Sigh, I really don't know what kind of architecture laptops use

In my opinion your BIOS compatibility is poor. If there is no upgrade available, the problem you described will be hard to solve.

Why don't you enter boos at startup and take a look to see whether the master boot area of your hard disk has been no'ed. The last time I was setting up a system for a friend, the exact same thing happened as with you. I thought about it for a long time before realizing that was where the problem was.

I also ran into a similar problem before; it was caused by damage to the partition table! Not sure whether yours is the same reason!!