I am trying to install Win XP over FC5 and when booting up I put the XP install CD and it comes up with the message "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration...". Then the screen goes black. I wait and wait but nothing happens for 20-30 minutes. I would greatly appreciate some help.

Okay ... do you remember how this forum is called? :-)
So you will need to boot with your CD and enter the recovery console.
Then you need to flush the MBR with the command
fixmbr

Maybe you will need to boot with a third party tool like BartPE to clean the disk so that Windows is able to be installed.

Jake,
The best way always is to install Windoze first and then install Linux .. the Linux bootloader is much better than the Windows one.

Cheers
Arvind

Thanks. My intent is to have a dual boot machine with XP & FC5. That is why I need to install XP first, partition the hard drive and then install FC5. I'll try the third party software to clean/partition the drive.

well u can dual boot Win XP and Fedora by installing the linux bootloader on the seperate /boot partition and then tweaking the NTLDR of Win XP in such a way that it calls the linux bootloader. this way u dont need to install the bootloader on the MBR and if something goes wrong with GRUB/LILO, u can atleast boot into win XP.

well u can dual boot Win XP and Fedora by installing the linux bootloader on the seperate /boot partition and then tweaking the NTLDR of Win XP in such a way that it calls the linux bootloader. this way u dont need to install the bootloader on the MBR and if something goes wrong with GRUB/LILO, u can atleast boot into win XP.
If u wan't I can provide u the detailed instructions.

If it's not too much trouble I would appreciate the detailed instructions. Thanks!

It,s a .doc file which opens with MS word or OO writer.
I'm considering that u have a little knowledge of partitioning hard disks.
Hope this helps u.
Download it from the following link.
I compiled this document after reading an article from an magazine.
http://www.MegaShare.com/39082

The actual problem is with Fedora partitioner, and I'm sorry to see nobody having a clue about it.
When you install Fedora after having installed XP, it changes the partition table such that Windows
cannot read it properly. This is why the XP installer hangs at that step. This is an old incompatibility
issue with Fedora/RH and WinXP. I've not encountered this problem with any other GNU/Linux distribution
so far. And this problem doesn't exist with Windows 2000 or 2003. I've not tested with Vista yet.

Your only option is to boot using a liveCD or floppy, and wipe out all partitions. Only then the XP
installer will correctly read and load the partition table. You can create partitions from within the
installer afterwards.

HTH.

Sorry to say mate. But I've been using Win XP and FC5 in dual boot configuration on a single hard disk and has not had any problem with it. Its working like a charm.
I have installed Win XP first. Then I installed FC5 and partitioned the hard disk during the FC5 setup to make room for FC5. It worked really fine. I have installed GRUB on a seperate /boot (around 150 mb) partition and then call it from the NTLDR.
Its been a month and I haven't faced a single damn problem yet.

@tomhanks,
Of course, it's only natural that you didn't encounter any problem. But have you booted from an XP CD after installing Fedora? Mind you, the XP installer will hang, as the OP has stated. Though it's entirely possible to not have the same problem on a different hardware configuration.

I recommend you try booting from a WinXP CD and report back whatever happens.

hi,I have the same problem, I have FC5 linux and want to download XP,I don't want to start with XP and then download FC5, because I already installed different files on FC5 concerend with arabic language, so how I can partitioned the hard disc and install win xp

hi, I have the same problem, I want to install Win XP over FC%, and I don't want to start from win XP, because I allready installed different backages in FC5 that I dont want to loose them, so can any one help me to partition my hard disc and install win xp