here's my deal for tonight
I got a new mobo, processor, & case
I took my ram 512 pc2100 and my drives dvd & cdr and 60 gig hdd
I put it together and it will post but when I try to load win 98 or ME
I have to load one of these first as my xp is an upgrade edition
btw they are all legit copies
It runs the scan when I start and when it starts to copy the files it errors
with either "error loading gdi.exe" or "error loading gdi.exe"
I have tried eliminating the ram used one stick at a time same result
I have used 3 video cards with same result I have taken the drives out and tried them each seperately, I bought this as a kit so the shop put the mobo in and the cpu
I did put my antec psupply in though, but I'm confident I did that ok
the mobo is Shuttle ak39n
the processor is an AMD athlon xp 2500 Barton
anyone have any ideas?
I googled the errors but the only results are when windows has already been installed not in the process of being installed

I have heard that with an upgrade version, you don't necessarily have the have the previous version installed, just need the have the original disk handy for it to check, can anybody confirm this is correct?

May save you a world of pain...

EDIT: Jinx... Bingo!

If theyre legit cd's, you should be able to start the XP upgrade install and just insert one of the older OS cds when prompted.

That way you can skip installing the older OS altogether, possibly eliminating the errors youre receiving on the file copying. That is if I'm reading you right/

they are legit but how do I start the xp cd
when I boot to it it says it can't be run in dos mode
xp pro btw

Ok this is strange
I just changed the bios too cd boot first and xp setup started to run
it is running now seems to be normal at this point
I'll post if your interested and for sure if it fails

Quote: Originally Posted by campy6 Ok this is strange I just changed the bios too cd boot first and xp setup started to run it is running now seems to be normal at this point I'll post if your interested and for sure if it fails

Please do, it's always good to know if we found the solution, good luck.

From what I have seen, you can do a full install from an upgrade edition. But if that is the case why even bother selling the Full version or having to pay so much for it. I feel like I have just been ripped off

Yeah i know me too, i found this out a while back when installing XP from ME on an old machine a while back. It sucks, it just needs the XP cd from original to check the authorization or authentication(one of the two).

Ya it blows chunks. BTW I was wondering. You said that you upgraded from ME? I didnt know that was possible. I thought ME was un-upgradable.

Si Senor, Yeah i did it on a laptop a long time ago, when XP was first out. Dell shipped with ME and gave me a XP upgrade. Yeah it worked, but i later reinstalled on that because it is just like setting a dirty table with clean plates and forks and stuff, like putting another OS on top of another one. I HATE ME though so it worked though.

ME was microsofts idea of a cruel joke

well I seem to be running so far
my xp loaded and it didn't ask for any other cd either
it ran all the way through first time that happened for me
by the way what should the processor speed be for this barton 2500
if it's not overclocked if I check in CPU-Z?

should be around 1.8 or 1.9Ghz. Im thinkin its 1.85ghz.

so if this one is running at 1450 one of the bus speeds must be set wrong
if I remeber some other posts
or would the 2100 ram be slowing the processor down
I know that sounds dumb but I just don't know for sure


edit:the first thing I dloaded to it was Folding!!
got to pimp for humanity you know

check to make sure your bus settings aren't at 100-129 in bios (thats what mine were at when I got my mobo) just change it to 133-166(i think it is) it changes the settings you can adjust in the clock speeds. I don't know if it will apply to your mobo. Hope that helps!

If its a ghetto board, like my last one I had to change a jumper on the board to get 133FSB. But if its brand new you can prolly just go into the bios and change it.

I'm not sure if you take a processor hit or not by running lower spec'd RAM than your CPU FSB. PC2100 is 266MHz and the 2500+ Barton is at 333MHz (1.83Ghz stock for the Barton according to Newegg, btw). Maybe if you have some PC2700 RAM you could give it a try and see if it helps. If not I am sure someone will come along with a solution soon.

well at least it's running now
all the windows updates
I'll play with the bus speed tomorrow
but for now I'm calling it a night
thanks for the tips all

Glad to hear you got it running, that thing should chew thru the units too...

Look in the bios for FSB settings, or even the manual if you get desperate...

well it seems to be rocking along now
the FSB was at 133 I changed it to 166 and the cpu clocks in at 1820.6 mhz
and it also passed the truest test the kids have been using it and saying
"dad this is fast!" their neopets games are screaming