I was installing WindowsXP on a PC the other day. Everything was supposed to work fine and it did, for a start until the installation reached “Setup is starting Windows” where it just stalled. Tried many successive reboots but to no avail, the system just hanged there.
So, had to consult Google. After going through several forums that said things like memory problem, hard disk problem, processor problem, i managed to find the solution, it’s more of a hack to me.
So the great solution was: when the installation says “press F6 to load raid…”, just press F5. After some time, a screen will appear with some options about different types of PC. I chose “standard PC with … i486″ and the installation proceeded. Everything worked fine and WindowsXP is happily running on the PC.
August 18, 2006 at 7:57 am
Wow… I am so lucky Google found this. It WORKED!!!!
Thank you!
March 2, 2007 at 3:50 am
Thanks for this. Got me through after crackinh my head for 2 days.
January 22, 2008 at 1:11 pm
thank you very much my friend. Your advice did the job, i appreciate it!
March 24, 2008 at 3:46 am
this hasnt worked for me any suggestions this hard drive had vista on it so i reformatted it casue i cant stand vista and now when i go to install window xp pro it does what the top post said it hangs at Setup is starting Windows i even bought a brand new hard drive same problem ran fine with vista but i didnt own it someone gave it to me that way any help would be great
May 3, 2008 at 1:34 pm
i too had this problem. i too tried all other solutions. i too tried this one. this one is the only one that gave me results. now one thing i noticed, prior to running setup, i formatted the drive with another boot tool thinking that might help. it did not. but after using this solution, i got it to work. when i got to the part where you choose which partition to format, since i had done that, windows gave me an option to skip formatting since it was already done, so i choose that. then, while setup was copying files over, i had all sorts of “cannot copy” errors. i started over yet again, this time letting windows format the drive for me and it worked great. just a note so others dont make the same mistake.
June 13, 2008 at 5:56 am
This totally helped & was something I had never heard of. I was re-imaging a EMachine C2280 & it definately helped Windows XP Home to install. Can;t thank you enough.
June 21, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Thank You so very much !!! .. was stuck with this error for the past 24 hrs ..
cheers !
June 23, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Wow….how did all these people get that problem? was it on a specific kind of computer? .. Can’t understand how 7 people got same problem
..I mean I’ve installed Windows XP about 100 times in my life and never got that problem
June 30, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Yeah, just rebuilding one of these things for a friend, had the same problem…
C2280 Emachine was about to become a C2280 throw you in the lake machine.
Good find man!
July 3, 2008 at 7:40 am
I am having the same problem on an Aspire 5100. It did not work for me. I know that my hardware is all good so I cannot understand why I am having this problem. I took the HD out and installed the setup on a different computer, when the computer went to restart to complete the installation I took it out and put it back into the Acer. Now the system says invalid boot ini. and blue screens. I am going to try to reinstall using FAT file system as that is the way most acers are setup. If that does not work, does anyone know if the Aspire 5100 has a dipswitch on it as the cmos battery is soldered to the board and it would only make scents that there is a dipswitch. If there is what are the settings, thanks in advance for anyone that can help….
July 17, 2008 at 5:09 am
I just sorta some how came across this
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216251/EN-US/
It’s BS cause they don’t even mention anything like this for XP.
-Worked for me!
Thanks
August 11, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Thanks! saved me some many hours
August 19, 2008 at 1:10 am
Thanks a lot for this wonderful advice! It took me five hours to understand that I need some Google help
September 10, 2008 at 8:08 pm
thank you so much for this info
September 13, 2008 at 12:20 pm
i’ve tried what was in here but to no avail i am still having the same result
September 14, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Yeah – tried it too and no better with this method.
Oh well, back to the drawing board (or a new computer)!!
September 24, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Just wanted to add my thanks for taking the time to post your solution, it worked just fine for me.
October 2, 2008 at 8:00 am
I’m working on a friends pc and having the same problem.
I’ll try this one and see if the magic works for me!
Thanks for the tip!
October 2, 2008 at 8:08 am
Aight! I’m back after 5 minutes
Pascal, a million thanks to you. You’re heaven sent!
The F5 thing you suggested has worked for me.
My friend will surely be grateful for this one.
We’re having problems with it for 2 days now.
October 3, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I got the problem while trying to instal windows xp 64 bitt i tried pushing f5 i dont get the standard pc version only acpi multiproceser and uniproceser options Both dont work pls help !!!!!!
October 6, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Cheers
October 15, 2008 at 6:38 am
Thanks, I had the same problem after creating a dual boot xp/red hat machine linux (old gateway essential) used Spotmau “PowerSuite Professional” to delete partitions & wipe the data (harddrive checked fine too)& still would got hung up at install on Win XP pro or Win 2000 pro . FYI Red Hat Linux would not launch either. So IM thinking Boat anchor here. So last ditch effort I found this blog. nothing to loose…..right. Tried it and it worked like a champ. Installed Win 200 pro with no problems…
Thanks again Pascal.
November 11, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Thanks a million for posting about this. Just installed a new motherboard and it was hanging at this same spot. The F5 fixed the problem for me.
November 22, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Yessirr!!!Thanks a mill man. Been struggling with my PC for a minute. Works like a charm.
December 7, 2008 at 9:29 am
yeah gr8 its working at the moment.
thanks man
January 4, 2009 at 4:27 am
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU and THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
After 72 hours of efforts it W O R K E D !!!!!!!!!!!!
January 21, 2009 at 8:24 am
This really saved my night! I’m reinstalling Win XP Home in a Toshiba Satellite which I had to replace the hard drive. It was hanging on Setup is Starting Windows. Tried the F5 thing, and got through!
Thanks!
January 28, 2009 at 9:52 am
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
February 8, 2009 at 10:03 am
Thank you so much for the info on installing Windows.
February 13, 2009 at 6:52 am
If ACPI or Standard PC does not work, install SP3. I had SP2 on my laptop and it would freeze at “Setup is starting Windows”. It is now working…Good Luck.
February 13, 2009 at 6:54 am
BTW, I was installig Windows Server 2003 on Virtual PC.
February 20, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Hehe he big smile.
I jus wanna say a big Hi5 to F5. It worked for me Thanx again Hon Pascal Grosset.
March 18, 2009 at 9:19 am
installing 64-bit XP Pro on AMD Dual Core 6000+ chip w 4Gb RAM on XFX 8200 MB. F5 doesnt work for me. removed a DIMM of RAM, disabled power mgmt, disabled various USB ports, disabled ACPI APIC support(which you need for a 64-bit install as I found the hard way) to no avail….any other ideas?
Thanks
-j
April 20, 2009 at 2:02 pm
thank you soooooooooooooooooo much
April 24, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Thank you so much…
May 21, 2009 at 2:10 am
Thanks. After pressing F5 I had to choose MPS MultiProcesser to get out of the addiction screen calling itself “setup starting windows”
May 21, 2009 at 2:11 am
Joe,
If you have a dual core try MPS Multiprocessor and it should work.
Thanks
Ramesh
June 12, 2009 at 3:53 am
Hello. I`m having the same problem. I`ve been fixing my mom`s Dell Vostro with Intel Centrino (I know its DELL lol). So I have tried pressing F5 and nothing had work for me. I want to try different options other than `standard PC` but im not sure if it will do good to my brand new replaced HD.
Thanks.
June 12, 2009 at 3:59 am
unbelievable, my laptop crahsed 5 days ago and I been trying to reformat the thing since then as well as look after a new born baby and get ready for a new job start!
Sorry about the spelling –tired!
Thanks for solution, you have just saved me £2000 on a new laptop!
June 30, 2009 at 10:58 am
You are my hero!!!
July 11, 2009 at 1:50 am
Hi, i did what u said.. press F5 instead of F6 when shown.. and it only had 2 options.. either x86 or OTHER.. and it was in OTHER.. so i just choose x86 and started to load all the setup files but when came up to “setup is starting windows” it froze all over again.. i tryed pressin ctrl+alt+supr but didnt restart so i had to restart manually…
I have already winXP installed on my PC , but it doesnt start in normal mode.. it wont even start in safe mode.. so i tough maybe formating and installing windows from scratch would do.. well it didn’t do tha trick.. so now i can’t even format cuz it wont read any windowsXP installation disk dunno why.. i’ll try with an ubuntu 64– but i dont think it will work cuz the processor is for 32b only :S
July 12, 2009 at 12:36 am
Hey, I was having the same exact trouble with the “Setup is starting Windows” hangup. I tried the F5 thing, and selected what you told me to, but the same thing happened. I may try OTHER now tho…
BTW, for the one who thinks it’s all the same computer model, it isn’t. Mine is a used DELL I bought through craigslist, so I don’t know the model number…
July 12, 2009 at 5:01 am
HVALA ! Spasio si mi sate patnje ! Jos jednom Hvala !
August 12, 2009 at 11:03 pm
It worked thanks so much for the Help Good Post!!!
August 13, 2009 at 1:24 am
Thank you!
I had wasted hours and hours before I found this.
So weird though why it has happened. I installed if fine a few months ago without the F5 trick.
August 21, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Thanks a lot man, this solved my problem!
August 24, 2009 at 12:44 pm
HATS OFFFF
u really made my day
August 24, 2009 at 12:47 pm
whomsoever thanku thanku thanku thanku
August 28, 2009 at 5:53 am
It has been stated 40 some times before me, but I cannot leave this site without thanking you for the hours you have saved me. I have been building and fixing computers for about 10 years now, and have NEVER ran into this problem until today, now I will know how to fix it next time (although, now that I know how to fix it, it won’t happen again).
Thank you, so very much.
August 31, 2009 at 8:21 pm
doesn’t work for me…its still stuck in there…any other suggestion??
September 12, 2009 at 1:51 am
I have that problem with Acer Aspire 5100 but that doesn’t resolve my problem. Thank You anyway!
September 23, 2009 at 7:39 pm
go in the bios pres f2 on start…change ahci bak to ide…that solved ma problem
September 13, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Some precisions :
1.Pressing F5 worked, but when windows gives you only 2 choices (Standard PC and Other), you are in fact able to select MORE options using up arrow, there more ‘hidden’ possibilities (i chose ACPI Multiprocessor myself)
2. this did not help me anyway, but i found something else on the internet : in the BIOS you have to make the AHCI option COMPATIBLE when you install an XP on a Vista-native computer, because of a Hard Disk compatibility story
hope it helps, and thank you anyway
September 19, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Loads of people have already said it.. but this worked perfectly! I’ve never even heard of pressing F5 at that window and I’ve been building computers for around 6 years!!
Can’t thank you enough, I can finally have my home storage machine up and running again
September 23, 2009 at 7:37 pm
hmmm…nowdays computers come with ahci(i think its that…forgot about the name… anywayz) and i think that windows xp vista dont load the drivers to be able to readd the hard disk in ahci mode…anywayz go in bios and put it bak to ide mode..basic mode for most os.
October 2, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I just wanted to thank you so much man!
I was really pissed of with this error and now, after 2 days, this is working again!
Thank you again =)
October 12, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Yeah man thanks for this info,really helped me out after nearly pulling out my hair.
Cheers
October 14, 2009 at 10:38 am
I was experiencing same problem. Took laptop to a technician – said the hard drive was dead. Bought a new hard drive – same problem. Took laptop to another technician – said I needed a new motherboard. He said to throw the laptop away. Thought I would buy another motherboard through ebay and have a go at fixing it up myself (since I had a new hard drive!!). But then I found this site!! Thanks big heaps – it worked – now debating whether to ask for my money back from technicians. What do you think?
THANKYOU!!!
October 21, 2009 at 8:32 am
Now thats awesome f5 thing works for me and setup is running. cheers buddy you are great
October 24, 2009 at 2:11 am
F5 “standard PC with … i486″ WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!! Toshiba Satellite after a complete wipe of the hdd. THANK YOU!
November 24, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I just wanted to thank you so much guy! its wonderful….my pc started copying setup files…….thanks once again.
December 1, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Thanks A Miilliion!!!!!!
December 22, 2009 at 2:41 am
you saved may day !
thank you and hapy all together !