WinXP install CD boots to a blank screen on my Z61m

[Zak]

I'm trying to install Windows XP Pro on my Z61m. It's currently running Linux and I've decided to dual boot. I have an appropriately sized blank primary partition; I've done this sort of install many times and I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I'm doing.

I'm using a standard Windows XP SP2 install CD. The Windows CD displays "Press any key to boot from CD" and when I do, briefly flashes "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration..." then goes to a black screen. At this point, the CD activity light is off, and I can eject the CD. The hard drive activity light is on, but it's not making any disk access noises (what's the technical term for this?). It responds to ctrl-alt-del by rebooting immediately, but does not respond to any other keys.

Does this machine require a special Windows CD? Are there BIOS settings that could cause this sort of problem? Is my machine broken in some obscure way that only manifests itself when booting from a Windows CD?

[GomJabbar]

Unless you press F6 when prompted and install the SATA driver from Intel, you need to put your hard drive in Compatibility Mode in the BIOS setup.

See following. Intel Matrix Storage Manager readme file

[Zak]

I am not prompted to press F6; it goes to a black screen before it gets to that point. I'll try using compatibility mode though.

Edit: I set the SATA controller to compatibility mode in the BIOS and still got exactly the same behavior from the CD. I tried pressing F6 immediately and repeatedly after seeing "Setup is inspecting your hardware configuration...". There was no affect at first, but after a few seconds, each press of F6 resulted in a beep.

[GomJabbar]

Try running some memory diagnostic software, and possibly some hard drive diagnostic software. Make sure your CD is before the hard drive in the boot order list in the BIOS. I really don't know what else could be causing your problem other than perhaps a faulty CD. If this is a burned copy, that could be a problem if your reader has trouble reading it. Factory pressed CD's are more reliable.

http://www.memtest.org/

PC Doctor for DOS bootable CD - ThinkPad

[Zak]

It's a pressed CD with no visible scratches. It worked in another machine. I also tried burning a copy from a previously saved ISO image and got the same results. The machine boots from a Knoppix CD and an Ubuntu install CD with no problems.

I'll try memtest and badblocks (a Linux utility for testing hard drives) later, but the machine isn't showing any symptoms of memory errors or hard drive problems when running Linux.

[Kyocera]

if you put it in compatibility mode you should, be able to install XP from that CD without installing anything. Linux may be interfering with your install. Have you partitioned an NTFS partition for XP?

EDIT: If you installed linux in AHCI mode you may have to start from scratch and install both OS's in either AHCI with the matrix driver or Compatibility mode.

[Zak]

I installed Linux in AHCI mode. Linux will boot in either mode. It's currently running in compatibility mode because I didn't bother to switch it back after my last attempt to boot the WinXP installer. I've marked a primary partition as NTFS, but not formatted it.

This still doesn't explain why I don't get the opportunity to press F6 to install the SATA driver.

And I keep hearing Linux is hard to install....

[Kyocera]

Linux will boot in either mode but XP won't, been there tried that.

[Zak]

This whole Windows thing is starting to sound like too much of a hassle. Maybe I'll try it some other time.