Ok... I just got a brand new XP 2800+ and a SOYO Fire Dragon Ultra (Platinum Edition). I have set my motherboard to FAIL SAFE settings. When I try to install my copy of XP, this happens. XP loads up.. prepares for setup.. formats my HD, then it starts loading the files on the HD, then in the middle of it all, I get this error http://home.earthlink.net/~comrade_cruz/images/major_error.gif Does anyone know how I can fix this? Thanks

If that drive is actually being formated, then it should not have that gif file come up being that could only come up if the files were still remaining. formating when done right erases everything on that entire drive. I assume you have a back up of all of your important data. If you do, repartition (use partiton magic or if you have to use fdisk) and format the hard drive and do a CLEAN install. That will give you a headache free install experience.

Do you have it plugged into a power strip? I had the same problem and I plugged it straight into the wall and it ran fine after that. Just a suggestion. turned out that my strip was faulty. Good Luck

Corey Speaking as a certified tech, it is not a power issue when a faulty file apppears (http://home.earthlink.net/~comrade_cruz/images/major_error.gif) after an attempted format (Which when it works erases everything on that selected partition) with an OS install. Just FYI. You apparently had a COMPLETELY different problem that was interfering with your XP install that was coming from your bad power strip. You may have experenced similar symptoms, but the cause that he is having is not power related according to his post. I am glad that you got everything working though Cory; thats great that it was only a power strip.

Matt, "As a certified tech", can't you see that the gif file is one Cristofer made to display the error message he's getting. The machine isn't running any gif file.

oh shoot, I just relized this...lol. Point taken. I stand corrected. It would help to not skim through the posts I guess..lol. Thanks for the heads up sci-guy. Here is acurate info to help. Sorry I was "half paying attention before"; my bad. I had been gaming for like 6 hours solid..you know how it is...lol Here is microsofts response http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/prmd_stp_ccgm.asp Here is a good thread that might be of help also. http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/n998291329 I am c/p'ing this rather than trying to explain the "hows and whys". Good luck and my apologies re: my earlier post guys. That was inexcusible on my part being I do this for a living.

Personally because I am lazy I would just repartiton the drive, then reformat. I know, I know it is a page file issue, but repartitioning and then reformating is a great way to deal with this sort of stuff being it is a new install of XP and there might actually be a problem that fooling with it is just not worth doing. It "could" be some sort of hardware problem, but being it is a new install that has not been completed anyway, I'd repartition before bothering to look at hardware conflicts. Is the hard drive new? Could be failing in some way, either the firmware or even the drive it's self. Normally you see this error if your page file is screwy (too small, etc) But this is a new install, so I am suspicious that there may be something up with the partition itself. So, first, repartition first, then reformat the drive. (Don't do that "quick" partiton" either, do it normally. If that does nothing to help, try another hard drive from a friend. It will almost for sure work being that it really can only be the drive or the partiton that is bad since it has no operating system on it yet. Good Luck