Greetings everybody. I am back here after a long time and the credit goes to my system.

The setup process seems to move smoothly until the stage where i have to enter the serial of the installation. As soon as i finish entering the serial and click 'Next', the system restarts and i get a message 'Setup is being restarted' and again i am taken back to the serial window after all the booting process ends.

I tried many times but as soon as i click 'Next', the system restarts. There was never a problem before. Due to a virus, i went in for a complete system format and when i try to install WinXP, this is the problem i am faced it. Thus, i am forced to go with Win98 which is very frustrating. I didnt add any new hardware to my system too.

PS:I am trying to install WinXP without any service pack edition.

Please help me out on this.

Thanks and Regards,
Nisar.

Just to verify: Do you mean when entering your 25 character Product Key the system restarts.

Yeh exactly. The 25 character product key.

Are you using the same CD as the original install?

This post offers some idea of the question:

Yes, but is it a valid key for that particular type of CD?

Each type and version of Windows XP (and there are getting to be quite
a few) has their own specific coding incorporated into the product
key.

And unless the product key used is a valid key for that particular
type of CD it will be rejected, even though it may be a fully valid
key when used with the proper CD.

The product key and the CD must match not only with respect to the
version of Windows XP (e.g. Home, Pro, Tablet, Media Center) but also
the type (Retail Full Install, Retail Upgrade, OEM, Volume License).

Hope this helps to sort out the problem.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP

Originally Posted by jephree

Are you using the same CD as the original install?

Yeh its the same CD...i only got one..so no question of replacing it after the original installation.

And you are doing a Clean Install?

If yes and the problem persists you might want to totally wipe the hard drive.

KillDisk will do this.

Originally Posted by jephree

And you are doing a Clean Install?

If yes and the problem persists you might want to totally wipe the hard drive.

KillDisk will do this.

Yeh its a clean intsall....i will try KillDisk and let you know...

I had a problem similar to this, and found that i needed to change the BIOS settings to boot from HDD and not DVD drive - it worked fine after that

Originally Posted by flightidle

I had a problem similar to this, and found that i needed to change the BIOS settings to boot from HDD and not DVD drive - it worked fine after that

No thats not case flightidle. I change it to HDD after the intial installation.

And Jephree, using KillDisk didnt solve the problem either. I dont know why as soon as i click 'Next', the system restarts.

Win98 works fine so why is there a problem with WinXP.?

I can find nothing on this.

Do you get an Invalid error?

The only thing I see is that the problem would occur if your CD is pre SP1 or 2 and you are Repairing a 1 or 2.

On a Clean Install with a Wiped hard drive this should not matter.

Do you have access to another XP CD? It would be curious to see if 2 different CD's cause the same problem.

The CD "type" would need to be identical. e.g. XP Pro (no service pack) or Home etc.

Another thing just for "why not" would be to clear your motherboard CMOS.