Hello,
I am having before a pc that is behaving funny. It a generic pc (not branded) and the motherboard model is JW-IG31-MKII. I had installed Ubuntu on it and the wanted to move to Windows XP. It starts the installation process and gets stuck on "Starting Windows" message. Well if you try to reboot it does not give display untill you take off the CMOS battery to load system defaults. It then recognizes the HDD and you can start the install process only to get stuck on reboot.
Any idea what this could be/

I suggest you start with updating the BIOS to latest version. http://www.jwele.com/motherboard_detail.php?488#_bios

After that, you should enter the bios and load the defaults.

Then I would customize the XP CD/DVD to contain the latest SP3, and all the drivers for that motherboard, using nLite.
Get nLite here: http://www.nliteos.com/
Get all the latest MB-drivers here: http://www.jwele.com/motherboard_detail.php?488#_driver

Additionally, you should find all other drivers needed for your hardware (whatever you have), and include it in the XP install dvd.

Use imgburn to burn the finished ISO file to DVD, instead of trying to limit the size to fit on a CD (I never had any trouble installing XP from a custom DVD).

IF this doesn't work, you might have a broken piece of hardware somewhere in the setup.

Good luck :)

That's all very good Suggestions.

The most likely cause (and the easist to fix)
Is that one of your bios settings is incorrect - either you can reset them all back to factory, as suggested above, or you can look for the one setting that is doing it. This setting, I am guessing, is the one related to uPNP Devices (Universal Plug 'n' Play). You will find that it is a setting that enables/disables PS/2 Based Operating systems.

I cannot remember which is which, But Linix is one, and windows is the other. I think I usually have it enabled for Windows, But try it both ways around. There are a hundred Tutorials around that show you how to get into the BIOS of a machine, once there you will be able to change this setting (if it is there at all - some machines do not include this option in their BIOS)

nLite is a cool program, but it is not a beginners' trick. although that would be an awesome thing to do (I have done it for every one of my PC's, along with full HDD Cloning) it is not something that you just grab and do... unless you are a true "PCGeekaZoid". You are welcome to give it a go, but I don't think that it will be the cause of your problem. That motherboard update might be worth a shot though!

This information is indeed useful. Thanks for sharing.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.