Setup may restart during the hardware detection phase of Windows XP installation (891892)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a new Microsoft Windows XP installation or a repair installation, your computer may restart when Setup reaches the hardware detection phase.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if a device driver conflict occurs during the hardware detection phase of Windows XP installation. When a device driver conflict occurs, a Stop error is generated. By default, Windows XP is designed to restart the computer when such an error occurs.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, remove all unnecessary devices from the computer, or search for device driver files that conflict with the operating system. Then rename or delete those device driver files.
  1. Restart the computer, and then start the Setup program.
  2. When the Installing Devices green progress indicator appears, on the left side of your screen, during the Installing Windows part of Setup, press SHIFT+F10 to open a command prompt.
  3. At the command prompt, type control sysdm.cpl, and then press ENTER.
  4. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
  5. Under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
  6. In the Startup and Recovery dialog box, under System failure, click to clear the Automatically restart check box, and then click OK.
  7. Click OK to close the System Properties dialog box.
  8. At the command prompt, type exit, and then press ENTER to continue Setup.

    Note When Setup progresses, you may receive a Stop error message that is similar to the following error message:
    Stop 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xEEE4C89Z, 0xF7AF8AC0, 0xF7AF87C0) palmusbd.sys - Address EEE4C89C base at EEE4Z000, DateStamp 3C6801E9
  9. Note the device driver file name and the error code from the Stop error.
  10. Restart the computer in Recovery Console. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Start your computer with the Windows XP Setup floppy disks or with the Windows XP CD-ROM.
    2. At the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to repair a Windows installation.
    3. Press C to start the Windows Recovery Console. Type the number for the Windows installation that you want to repair, and then press ENTER.
    4. Type the administrator password, and then press ENTER.

      Note If you do not have an administrator password, just press ENTER.
  11. Change the name of the %SystemRoot% folder to %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers. To do this, at the command prompt, type cd system32\drivers, and then press ENTER.
  12. Delete or rename the device driver file that you noted in step 9. To rename the device driver file, at the command prompt, type ren driver.sys driver.old, and then press ENTER. In this command, driver.sys is the driver file name and driver.old is the renamed file.

    Note You may have to retain the name of the driver file and replace only the contents of the driver file to prevent the Windows XP operating system from copying the driver file back to the hard disk.

    For example, you may replace the contents of the driver file by copying the contents of the Lmhosts.sam file that is located in the %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc folder to the driver file. You can also use any text file as a replacement for the Lmhosts.sam file.

    To replace the contents of the driver file, follow these steps:
    1. At the command prompt, type cd etc, and then press ENTER.
    2. At the command prompt, type copy lmhosts.sam %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\driver.sys, and then press ENTER. In this command, driver.sys specifies the driver file.
    3. When you are prompted to confirm the file content replacement, press Y, and then press ENTER.
  13. At the command prompt, type exit, and then press ENTER.
  14. Restart the computer and continue Setup.

REFERENCES

For more information about the Windows XP Recovery Console, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

314058 Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:3/25/2005
Keywords:kbtshoot KB891892 kbAudITPRO
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