Unable to Install XP

H

h2oski

New Member
This is a new problem that has not been encountered before in the
100's of times that I've loaded Windows XP. Hopefully someone here
can help.
During the copying of files during the install process, around 65%
I start to get errors- "can not copy xxx.xxx file...".
It happens randomly(not always on the same file) and will continue
until about the 75% mark and then continue to load the files just fine.
When this happens I have two choices, hit ESC to skip the file, or keep
hitting enter. Sometimes hitting enter repeatedly or opening up the
cd rom tray and reclosing will make it read. Other times, no luck, skipping is the only thing that lets it move on. Every indication is that my XP install CD is bad but I have a second install disc that is doing the same thing.
I have tried 3 different CD rom drives and and now trying a different hard drive to try and eliminate the source of my problem without giving Microsoft another 100$+. Even though I have my CD key # will I have to buy another disc? Why is the second XP install disc doing the same thing? Both discs look new(no scratches). Can anyone think of any other reason that this would happen? Thanks
 
You can try striping your computer so there are no hardware conflicts. Meaning taking off all PCI cards and ISA cards, just leaving the Video card. Only plug in 1 HD and 1 CDrom and 1 stick of RAM... then try installing it.

I was going to guess the CDRom is the culprit, but you said you tried 3 of them already. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the reply. My system is already stripped except for two sticks
of ram(512 x 2). I have now finished attempting to load the OS on a 2nd
HDD with no success. I still had to skip loading about three or four files.
Apparently, these were critical files because, this time, XP loaded but when I tried to install my motherboard drivers, it went into a reboot loop.
I'm about to resign myself to the fact that a new XP CD is in order but I would think that there are millions of us out there who have good CD keys but have a worn out disc. I would pay 10 bucks for a new disc. Microsoft does offer this solution, right?(hahahaha)
 
Could be your disc, but i've had similar issues with bad RAM. I'd run memtest before investing in a new CD. If memtest fails you may want to try with one stick of RAM at a time.
 
i'd say that your xp disk is fine, or so it sounds, because, hey, its not happening on the same files, and it is getting as far as it is, so, i cannot think of what this is. the 3 cd drives you tried, were any of them new? also, have you tried installing xp on another computer with that cd (microsoft would hate you, lol)
 
Thanks for the help. I found the problem. Just as Laptopextreme suggested, it was a ram problem. I had my system stripped of everything except I kept two sticks of ram in it. As soon as I removed one stick, the system loaded and read any disc I threw at it. So, it was a memory problem.
Hope this helps someone else from going thru the frustration that I experienced.
 
Definatly a ram problem, I had the same problem last week when building my new system. My mother board wasnt compatable with the RAM brought but the same error you were talking about + many blue screens.
 
For future reference, little-used CDROMs can have problems like thise where dust inside the uti will cause poor copying performance and random files failing to copy. Solution would be to blow the dust out of the CDROM an drun a cleaner CD through it and retry.
 
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