Weird XP installation error on a Dell Inspiron 1100

January 29, 2007 9:44 AM

I am having a really hard time with installing Windows XP SP2 on an older Dell laptop...

I am rebuilding the OS of an older Dell Inspiron 1100 for a colleague who is less than computer literate, per se...

I ran Active Kill Disk on the hard drive to nuke all data and write zeroes, but when I try to run the XP Pro installation CD for this machine, it gets about halfway through and then prompts me for the service pack 2 disk.

The exact message is:
"Please insert the Compact Disc labeled 'Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 CD' into your CD-ROM drive (D:) and then click OK."

When I click OK (because the disc is in the drive) I get the following:

"the file 'asms' on Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 CD is needed. Type the path..."

If I click ok, nothing. It sits there. If I click 'cancel,' I get a fatal error message.

What is confusing the hell out of me is why it is prompting me for this - I am using a departmental self-installer disc that works on every other machine.

Do you MeFites think that there is some other problem?

Thanks folks!

posted by jimmyhutch to computers & internet (4 comments total)

some of those Volume license disks only work on the vendor's hardware. We have a ton of Dell xpsp2 installers but they wont work on our new HP's in my case.
posted by ronmexico at 9:59 AM on January 29, 2007

Some google surveying suggests that this could be a problem with any extra peripherals plugged in (like a card reader or external drive) or a problem with the optical drive you're using. Some people get around the error - on desktop machines - by putting in an old cd-rom or non-dvd cd-rw and booting the install off that.

It kind of looks like the underlying problem is drive letter assignment. If you can get into the bios you might check what drive letter the cd drive is, and if the error message is saying some other letter. See this message board thread for more (and also less) info. They also implicate cable select jumper settings and internal peripherals.

You can always punt and copy the CD to the HDD and run the install from there, if you're far enough to DOS it.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:41 AM on January 29, 2007

If none of the above works you may have better luck using a standard XP install cd rather than the DELL specific CD. I'm not sure how the licensing works, but I doubt it would be completely illegal seeing as how you've already paid for XP.

If you don't have a straight XP SP2 disc then you may be able to find it somewhere online *cough* bittorrent *cough*. Or if you have an older XP disc then you can slipstream it up to SP2 and burn a new disc.

Once you get the OS installed you'll want to hit the DELL website and download all the drivers and other goodies specific for you laptop.

My experience has been that the manufacturer OS cds add a lot of junk to the system which you probably won't want - installing for a regular XP disc insures a nice, clean (well, for XP) installation.
posted by wfrgms at 12:20 PM on January 29, 2007

I have seen this error when I was using a Windows Media Center CD to install Media Center on a PC. (Media Center was designed to only be installed by OEMs, so the installation routine is kind of ragged).

Are you sure you are installing Windows XP Home or Pro and not Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005? If you are installing MCE, you need the second CD.
posted by stupidcomputernickname at 6:48 PM on January 29, 2007