Windows XP SP2 will not install. Please help.

pastymuncher · 15 Nov 2007 at 20:33

Hi guys. I have a major problem here. I have been banging my head against a wall all day trying to sort this out. Basically i cannot get XP installed. It gets to 57% and then comes up with messages that say, "Cannot copy the file:xxxxxx". Hit escape and you get even more, around 20 in all. The idea was to try to get it installed and then do a repair but it will not load any drivers for cd/dvdrw, fdd, usb etc so it would not work anyway.

If have tried different combinations of drives, sata, ide and get the same result. I have tried hitting F6 and installing the sata drivers and even tried it without the sata drivers and it just does'nt matter. I have tried about 20 times to get XP installed today. I have three genuine XP install disks here and have tried every one all with the same result. I have tested the hard drive and memory and both passed the tests. I know the cpu is good as it was carried over in my upgrade. Everything was working prior to the upgrade. The only new bits are the mobo and graphics card. The rig is in my siggy plus:-
HDD= Seagate 7200.10 320gb sata 2 16mb cache.
DVDRW 1= Samsung Spinpoint sata 18x.
DVDRW 2= NEC 3170 16x IDE.

If anybody has any ideas i would be most grateful as this is seriously doing my head in.

IAmATeaf · 15 Nov 2007 at 20:39

Have you checked out the memory, these types of errors would normally be associated with a memory type problem from what little I know

MarcLister · 15 Nov 2007 at 20:46

pastymuncher said:
Hi guys. I have a major problem here. I have been banging my head against a wall all day trying to sort this out. Basically i cannot get XP installed. It gets to 57% and then comes up with messages that say, "Cannot copy the file:xxxxxx". Hit escape and you get even more, around 20 in all. The idea was to try to get it installed and then do a repair but it will not load any drivers for cd/dvdrw, fdd, usb etc so it would not work anyway.

If have tried different combinations of drives, sata, ide and get the same result. I have tried hitting F6 and installing the sata drivers and even tried it without the sata drivers and it just does'nt matter. I have tried about 20 times to get XP installed today. I have three genuine XP install disks here and have tried every one all with the same result. I have tested the hard drive and memory and both passed the tests. I know the cpu is good as it was carried over in my upgrade. Everything was working prior to the upgrade. The only new bits are the mobo and graphics card. The rig is in my siggy plus:-
HDD= Seagate 7200.10 320gb sata 2 16mb cache.
DVDRW 1= Samsung Spinpoint sata 18x.
DVDRW 2= NEC 3170 16x IDE.

If anybody has any ideas i would be most grateful as this is seriously doing my head in.

IAmATeaf said:
Have you checked out the memory, these types of errors would normally be associated with a memory type problem from what little I know

pastymuncher said:
I have tested the hard drive and memory and both passed the tests.

From what you say I reckon the new mobo is borked? Have you tried isolating that as the problem by putting the old mobo back in? If that works then the new mobo is causing the problem.

pastymuncher · 15 Nov 2007 at 20:50

MarcLister said:
From what you say I reckon the new mobo is borked? Have you tried isolating that as the problem by putting the old mobo back in? If that works then the new mobo is causing the problem.

Have'nt got the old mobo anymore unfortunately. First thing i tested was the memory with Memtest and then the hard drive with Seagates diagnostic tools. Both were fine. I will try the hard drive in another pc tomorrow and install XP. If it works then i guess the mobo's got some sort of fault.

MarcLister · 15 Nov 2007 at 20:51

Ah ok. Well if you can try to "isolate" the mobo by using another computer then suppose that would work. Can you not borrow the mobo from another PC then? Or are the sockets wrong?

swinnie · 15 Nov 2007 at 21:13

MarcLister said:
Ah ok. Well if you can try to "isolate" the mobo by using another computer then suppose that would work. Can you not borrow the mobo from another PC then? Or are the sockets wrong?

Make sure that the XP version is NOT OEM as that will be breaking the EULA.

MarcLister · 15 Nov 2007 at 21:46

True. The OP does have three CDs so hopefully one of them is retail.

pastymuncher · 16 Nov 2007 at 10:18

MarcLister said:
True. The OP does have three CDs so hopefully one of them is retail.

Nope. All OEM. It won't really matter as long as it's not activated. I have three seperate genuine activation codes as well. One for each genuine copy. I just want to prove that i can or cannot install windows. If i can then i will use it's own code to activate it. If i can't then there's something wrong hardware wise i suspect. Going to start all over again now so won't be back for a while.

Burnsy2023 · 16 Nov 2007 at 10:47

pastymuncher said:
Nope. All OEM. It won't really matter as long as it's not activated.

Legally not true, but I wouldn't worry too much

Burnsy

pastymuncher · 16 Nov 2007 at 15:37

Ok, despite the hard drive passing it's so called test with seagate tools it throws up errors when plugged into another pc. Here's what i did earlier. I opened up my second pc and disconnected it's hard drive. I then connected the Seagate 7200.10 320gb sata drive to the same sata slot on that motherboard. I then proceeded to try to install XP on it. It went through all the file copiying bit and rebooted to do the setup bit. This is when things went wrong. The pc posted and then the screen went all funny with different coloured squares all over the place. It then froze. Pressed reset only for the same thing to happen. Connected up the proper hard drive for that pc and it works ok. Looks like the hard drive is buggered after all.

Anybody know any reliable hdd checking software? At least i can put the bugging thought of the mobo being faulty out of my head then. If it is the hdd i can get a new one tomorrow.