Typical errors during post

beep codes, system hangs during pots - wrong BIOS settings, HDD inaccessible, hardware failure

invalid system disk, "Operating |System not found " - floppy in FDD, no partitions defined on HDD

"cannot load windows\system32\hal.dll" - BOOT.ini incorrect or damaged, NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM not present in the root of the active partition, boot.ini incorrect or damaged

cannot load x:\ windows \system32\ntoskrnl.exe" screens with
stop error - NTOSKRNL.exe is missing or corrupted, bad drivers installed, possible hardware failure



cannot logon, error message that application fail start - user profile incorrect or damaged, software problems



system hangs at EULA - hard drive may not be detected coz, it may be SCSI or SATA hdd, then install from xp sp2 not less, or put the serial number of the hdd from the bios - go to the manufactures website - put the serial number n download the scsi or sata controller - copy it in a floppy - on the xp setup screen press F5 to copy hdd controllers by inserting this floppy - then continue the setup


quick format clears indexing and partition info - partition boot record PBR is cleared

normal format is a low level format which scans the hdd surface for bad sectors - the hdd is realocated - after debugging no info can be retrieved - its a 2 minute process.


when hdd doesnt format then try debugging


after booting from a startup disk or floppy execute
c:\xp\i386\winnt.exe for 16 bit
c:\xp\i386\winnt.exe for 32 bit


39-34 minutes - installing device drivers & components

33 min - installing video card

32 min - installing network adapter - winsock contains tcp/ip stack


device manager indiactors


! - driver incompatibilty
? - other devices
red X - disabled


shift + F10 opens command promt while installation

if we try to open deveice manager by devmgmt.msc gives us microsoft management console error for unregistered mmcndmgr.dll
so register it by regsvr32 mmcdmgr.dll n then open device manager (/s - silent, /u - unregister)

then proceed with h/w clean boot as follows

disable communication devices like - network modem, bluetooth,Ir, com parallel, webcam, external periperhal

In case of cyclic redundancy error ie error with the disk
open notepad and copy the I386 folder to c:\

then open the registry - HKeyLocalMachine \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ Current Version
click on current version and on the right window select the SourcePath change this path to C:\I386
after the installation completes RUN > SFC / SCANNOW to check whether all the files are copied or no


Typical installation settings for network adapter

1.TCP/IP IPv4 for SP2, IPv6 for SP3
2. File and printer sharing
3. Client for Microsoft
4. QOS packet scheduler




Collecting Information - reads n accepts the license agreement - product key

Dynamic Update - syncs up with internet - its only valid when installlation is done within oS

while parallel installation create a different folder for installation say windows1
while creating new user remember not to create the previous or existing user, give it a different name say Iyogi or else the My documents folder will be over written

Preparing Installation - copies files to ur hard drive - during repair teh files on the hard drive can be used for installation

C:\$WIN_NT$~BT - temp installation folder
C:\$WIN_NT$~LS - if copied from network

Repair install - Least amount of data is lost.

The following log files are created during the GUI mode setup:

setupact.log: File copies, net and display information, and pagefile data.
setuperr.log:Errors encountered in GUI Mode . Setuperr.log is usefu; for troubleshooting error msgs
setupapi.log Device installation info .it is useful for device installation problems
setuplog.txt device installation and OLE registration info


open devmgmt.msc - show hidden devices - view - resources by type - check for IRQ - check for exclamation mark then disable it

then click on view - devices by type - check plug n play devices - check fro exclamation mark -if found then disable it


Try repair installation in following scenarios :-

1. The customer cannot boot into safemode
2. Windows update, hotfixes, cause issue
3. When subinacl fails to reset the file/registry settings for user permissions
4. If any hardware causing problem is removed


Repair installation not recommended in following scenarios :-

1.When password is lost
2. 3rd party issue