Hello,

I want to install WindowsXP Professional on a dual CPU 1.4 GHz Dell
1655mc Blade server. I can Install Windows 2003 Server without
problems but installing Windows XP Professional always ends up with a
blue screen (at the time Windows XP installer has read initial
information from the CD and is about to start installing the operating
system). The only option at this point is to restart the machine.
I tried pressing F5 at the begining of installation and changing HAL
configuration to APCI Multiprocessor (and also all other
multiprocessor options). I also tried taking one CPU out and
installing this way.
No success. 

I have 4 of these computers and ALL can install Windows 2003 Server
but NONE can install Windows XP Professional.

My question is - is it possible to install Windows XP Professional on
this computer and if it is how can I overcome the problem I am having
and install this OS?

The problem shouldn't be the processors since XP pro supports dual
processor setups.  It may be that you are trying to install it over
Windows 2003?  The software would see XP in that case as a downgrade
and give you nothing but headaches from the start.  I would try
creating a seperate parition just for this installation so you don't
have to format the entire hard drive.  Good luck!

Thank you for the comment, however this is a clean install - in other
words, disks have been or will be formatted to remove Windows 2003
Server

As far as I know, 1655mc servers only support Win200x Server OSes.
They don't even support NTs (anymore.)

You've probably done the following but, check Dell's website for
1655mc firmware updates.

Also from my experiences, BSOD appear during install mostly when
there's a hardware issue. I would suspect it is the BIOS that is
preventing XP from getting installed. One good thing about BSOD is
that it has lots of information and sometimes you can track down the
problem. In one unsual instance, certain type of system memory caused
BSODs during XP install. Go figure.

But if there's no firmware updates to support WinXPP, you may be
better off just running Win2k3 Server.


Frank.