installing windows...
 

alright, first off.. i have a athlon xp 2500+ chip thats overclocked to 3200+, which has always been the case. causing no problems.

currently i'm running linux, and trying to format my main drive (40gb maxtor) to windows, then hopefully gonna throw linux on and dual boot my system.. (fedora core 3 is the distro i'm using).

well i tried this all last night, and i discovered with my 40gb plugged in the windows formating utility won't start, i press the space bar when it asks to boot from cd, then the installer says "checking system hardware.." and after that.. it goes to a black screen, and i'm not sure whats wrong.. i've tried everything minus taking my harddrive out and reformatting it on a different computer then throwing it back in this one and installing windows... anyone think they can answer this one?

yeah, sorry if i'm a little confusing. i'm a youngin, so that'll explain it.

~Joe

p.s. yep, my stupidness shows as i posted this in the wrong forum. sorry :x

Wellcome Killj0y :D

As a rule it's best NOT to overclock your system whilst installing Windows. I'm guessing you are installing Windows XP but you didn't say :D

Set the system back to normal speeds and try again, you can allways overclock the system when Windows is up and running :) I have found that Windows can be a little less forgiving when overclocking so it will be trial and error i'm affraid.

If it's just a formatting problem you can search around for boot cd's that have the format util's built into them or you can simply delete the partition and create a new one in the empty space. Some boot CD's to search for are Hiren's boot CD and Ultimate Boot CD- both of wich have all the tools built in you could need.

Got to say i love the pic the lik in your sig takes you to, excellent work!

I would have to agree with DoG, That is a damn fine picture. I have always found that when you put in you xp cd there are a few things that need to be checked.
first make sure that you have saved all the important files off your harddrive before installing a new os. make sure you have all your computers drivers on cd befor formatting.
Make sure your computers first boot option is cd. You can change that in the bios.
insert your xp cd and restart your computer, the computer should run through a series of options and then pop up with some options, repair an installation, install
I ususally delete the partition that I am going to install on, and then allow the xp cd to format the new partion or the entire drive. You can always partion the drive after you get xp installed. I would stick with NTFS. anyways hope this isn't too confusing and hope it helps.

Alright, so after tinkering for a day...

I ended up taking out my harddrive and throwing it in a extra computer, deleting the partititions in windows since the windows xp cd wouldn't take me past the hardware tests. After doing so, I threw the harddrive back in, and now I'm installing windows on it :). The general rule might be to go back in clock speeds, but I've never had problems with that. Well anyways, I'm off to setting up my computer :). Thanks for the posts, and yeah, the picture in my sig is awesome. I love it.

~Joe

For future reference, there may be an issue with the XP CD, older AMD chips, and the method used to partition the HD. I had the same prob with an AMD K6-2, Partiton Magic, and the XP CD. Solution? Use the FLOPY boot diskettes.

Me? I did a low level format and changed to Acronis Partition Expert.

Glad you solved your prob.

}---:)