Hello, I am attempting to install a valid copy of Windows XP Home edition on a brand new PC. My computer reads the disc, but hangs up on the screen that reads "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration" and does not change. There is no visual/audio activity (lights flashing, sounds) going on inside the tower, and the disc just stops spinning in the drive. I entered setup, but haven't the slightest clue what to do in there and am worried about changing any settings.
The master drive is an SATA drive, which I am unfamiliar with- in settings, it does not list an IDE primary master (for this same reason). I don't know if this has anything to do with my problem necessarily, but I read about someone online who had a similar problem remedied by replacing the SATA drive with an IDE drive.
Additionally, if I have a 320 GB slave drive that was partitioned by a previous PC and still contains lots of (vital!) information, would switching the pins to master and installing Windows XP on the smallest partition erase the info? Is that even possible?
Sorry about the long (and convoluted) post, and thanks in advance!!!

Is this a generic PC or Brand name system? Is SATA contoller on motherboard or a card? What brand hard drive? XP recognizes most SATA controllers and drives, but not all. May need to have disk with drivers available and press F6 when prompted to install drivers.

It is a generic PC. The SATA controller is on the motherboard. I am unsure of the hard drive brand- I can open the PC up and check if it is totally necessary, but I have yet to be prompted to install any drivers. I literally am unable to get past the initial screen that reads "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration".

Additionally, there is no jumper on the SATA drive- don't know if this is normal. EDIT: Looked online and found that this is completely normal.
I'm beginning to think that this problem has nothing to do with the hard drive arrangement; however, I'm dying to know whether my data will be erased if I switch my IDE from slave to master setting and use that as my primary drive.

Bump? Anyone? Am I in the wrong forum?

Hi hoof, welcome to the PCHF

My apologises for someone taking so long to reply to this thread. Please understand that this forum is staffed by volunteers who work/school throughout the day, and dedicate their spare time to helping others, like yourself, who are having issues.

From the sounds of your description, it appears there may be a hardware fault with your mainboard. As you're not getting to the point of the Windows setup to even ask for which hard drive to install it on

If you were to switch the 320gb IDE drive to your master, and attempt to install windows onto this, you can chose to either install Windows with, or without whiping all the data first.

If you have a previous version of windows, it will be deleted...but nothing else should be touched.