Jump to content

BARTPE 512mb RAM Laptop HD XP Setup failure


Dogsled

Recommended Posts

Hi friends,

I am new to BART PE so please help me understand this problem.

Be aware of what I am working with from the beginning so you can picture this clearly as I describe what is going on here.

HARDWARE and BART PE

The PC is a 2005 Dell Latitude in perfect physical and operational condition (gifted to me as was seldom used).

It currently has only 512MB of RAM (MAX Capacity = 2 GB). It has an 80GB Hard Drive, a CD-RW/DVD-RW, and

4 BOOTABLE USB ports. Everything needed by BART PE minimum system requirements - the BIOS boot order

is fully and easily configurable, and I have made the appropriate adjustments.

BART PE is Version 3.1.1.0 - it's the latest one I think. I created a bootable Sandisk 4(not a typo-yes I said 4)GB

USB FLASHDrive BART PE XP BUILD. It works. It's formatted in FAT I get the GUI of BART PE up onscreen, and

can read all drives (the booted Sandisk USB FLASHDrive reads as DriveLetter "X:". I thought everything was fine.

Here is my situation:

WHILE IN BART PE's onscreen GUI, I inserted an XP Installation CD (XP SP3).

It seems that running the Setup.exe file BEGINS okay, the usual screens of accepting-terms-of-service, entering-

product-keys, choosing which partition to create/install-to, and in which format, etc.. but what happens is that when

the actual real installation begins... ...poof, the screen pauses, and the main interface (XP SetUp Options Screen)

re-appears, and it's not a joke or a fluke. This is what is happening... it goes into this repetitious cycle.

Well, before you ask, YES I DID try to install from I386\WINNT.exe. But that was beginning to install it onto the

Sandisk 4GB USB FLASHdrive I used to boot from. (Yes, I selected formatting/partitioning the fixed hard disk -

it didn't matter though)

My Question really comes down to this:

Once I clean up my flashdrive from that botched self-install abortion, and make it BART PE bootable etc again,

Can i use the format the harddrive partition of the XP Setup, and then interupt the Setup after that,

and then copy the entire XP SETUP CD to my harddrive and run it from there, by running WINNT.EXE ?

Can I do that with no problems ? This is a Dell Latitude D610 in really good shape, it's pretty tough. But I

am now in mid-install from the first time ( I was installing to the hard drive, and it appeared that that's where the

files were going to, until....)... Now, when this thing boots it keeps going into a cycle of unpacking this and that

and partitioning the drive,etc and then begins the install (as mentioned..... and then .......poof, it stalls, then reboots.

Just so you know.... I know everybody says BART PE is only supposed to be used for up to 2GB but you know what,

BART PE has been around for a long time, and in the beginning 2GB was considered a large flash drive. FAT(16) will

format up to 4 GB though I read somewhere else, and I tried it. And I used that as the drive which I built my BART PE

build into, and that build does work just fine. Real fast too. It's installing a hard drive OS I'm having a problem with.

I'm skeptical that simply putting it on the flash drive instead of the hard drive or vice-versa is very relevant. I think it's my memory

at only 512 MB. Cuz that BART PE build is running in a RamDisk of nearly half of it - 255MB. But I don't really know what that

implies either, since the minimum system requirement for an XP OS of any edition is only 128 MB. So, you tell me, then, OK ?

What is the explanation for what I am dealing with here ? Is it the memory ? Do I have to install some add-on, or make a syntax

text string modification to a .sif file or something. Omit any replies about virus possibilities pls, even idiots like me know viruses

get cleaned off newly cleanly wiped formatted and partitioned drives.

Thank you very much.

Edited by Dogsled
Link to comment
Share on other sites


BART PE is Version 3.1.1.0 - it's the latest one I think. I created a bootable Sandisk 4(not a typo-yes I said 4)GB

USB FLASHDrive BART PE XP BUILD. It works. It's formatted in FAT I get the GUI of BART PE up onscreen, and

can read all drives (the booted Sandisk USB FLASHDrive reads as DriveLetter "X:". I thought everything was fine.

Here is my situation:

WHILE IN BART PE's onscreen GUI, I inserted an XP Installation CD (XP SP3).

Three questions.

  1. Is the filesystem FAT (FAT16) or FAT (FAT32)?
  2. How EXACTLY haas it been made bootable?
  3. If you "inserted" a CD, it should mean that you have a CD drive on that machine :unsure:, then why do you need to use the complex workaround you described?

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...