ok, I got NO interest in win7, Victim(vista) or what have you... I've inheritted a gateway mx6421 running dandy fine with MCE 2005. All valid license stickers etc nothing hokey... Except that dumbass me didn't ask about "system restore media" coz hell I've never used such stuff... The hard drive kakked, no biggie dropped a new HD in there system fine. Xcept it won't load windozeXP. There's NOTHING wrong with its hardware, I can load Kanotix (Ubuntu live derivative) or windoze 2k on it -=- happy computer. ============= WHAT HAPPENS: (repeatedly) Go to load any (ANY) variety of XP, and the system shuts down, someplace in the "setup is loading files" part of the install or just before "Starting windows XP" poof. screen black, system reboots ANY variety of XP. And I've tried about 20 varieties, for real. Does this running from CD, or bootable thumb drive. ============== So being a more than addictedly geeky old bat, I figger, ok, less "ghost" the image onto the drive. This "borked" running off of CD or USB, soo.... yanked the HD and stuck it in from desktop That worked just dandy fine, till I put the drive back in the laptop boot to XP? Ahhh..... the lovely BSoD... So - whats the most expedient solution here? Obviouosly Goatway built this thing WRONG, I "got that"... do I sell the inards for parts and keep the hull for a board that fits? Is the best option modify the bios? (yes I can RTFM) Or attempt to load a modified XP disc? THank u in advance (no I'll never fall for the "Oh its a really nice laptop" no no no !@!!) The BIOS etc can be DL from here: hXXp://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/search.asp?st=pn¶m=5956 (note -- this machine has the 2005 bios, don't need the vista bios) SPEXX: MX6421 Notebook Specifications Show Part Numbers ==5956 Feature Description Processor AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile Technology ML-32 Operates at 1.8 GHz | 512 KB L2 Cache Screen 15.4-inch Widescreen Ultrabright TFT WXGA Chipset ATI™ Radeon® Xpress 200M Chipset Memory 512 MB DDR (1x 512 MB) SODIMM (PC2700) Expandable to 2 GB Video Integrated Radeon® X300 based graphics Up to 64 MB shared video memory Audio AC '97 2.3 Compliant Audio Built-in Speakers Hard Drive 80 GB HDD (4200 RPM) Optical Drive DVD+/-RW Multi-Format Double Layer (up to 8.5 GB) Write maximum: 8X DVD+/-R, 4X DVD+/-RW, 2.4X DVD+R DL, 24X CD-R and 10X CD-RW disk Read maximum: 24X CD-ROM, 8X DVD-ROM, 8X DL/+RW disks Media Reader 4-in-1 Digital Media Manager Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick-Pro, and MMC Modem 56K ITU V.92 ready Fax/Modem (RJ-11 port) Network 10/100 Mbps Ethernet LAN 802.11g integrated wireless (up to 54Mbps) SecureEasySetup™, 125 High Speed Mode, BroadRange™ Technology Interfaces * 4 - USB 2.0 Ports * 1 - VGA External Connector * 1 - IEEE 1394 port * 1 - RJ11 * 1 - RJ45
Yes, it wasn't a bad box for $100. My "GOOD" laptop got a "growing black hole" in the LCD... this one was cheap @pawnshop due to a broken hinge... I feel you're correct in this. It will load win24 SP4 without a problem. It will load Debian based Linux. I don't think it'd hurt to try again -- the only reason I'm not just pulling out the LCD (for my good laptop) is I've never encountered this before. I've been fixing computers about 20 years (I should say "fixing AT", or breaking it till by accident it works) and have never seen this before... So this old dog willing to learn new things. DITTO on "No FAN" They make a very lovely paperweight. My good laptop is a "NASCAR notebook" (based on A-Open nb2000) which though hugely similar of hardware WORKED much better The machine won't boot beyond the post once it chokes on XP. These have all been "clean load" attempts. Delete all partitions create new partition and format before starting. This "fail" has been consistent across the board -- freshly burned ISO, burn @ no more than 8x speed. Fails even with XP from MSDNAA's. But not with Win2000. I agree that we're looking first @ a memory or HD issue. So I'll start with removing one of the RAM sticks and see what happens... I'll let you know what comes of it. THANK YOU LN However, you've prodded a few dormant brain cells into action.
Most probably you are facing this problem because of your new drive which may be a SATA drive, So i think you have to integrate sata drivers into your XP cd before you can install it onto your system...And that probably is the reason why the ghost didn,t work as the moment XP starts,it coouldn't find your sata drivers and you get BSOD..
In that case he maybe able to go into bios and change sata mode to IDE or AHC that should allow xp installation.
If this were the case,It was always a sata drive, or it would not fit...I dont see it loading Win2k with such hardware and no drivers..There is no mention of the "no harddrive found" error screen. I think this is not the problem. The machine came with EIDE HD and is not possible to install other. It is a "built for XP" machine with no SATA drivers available...