XP Working fine before, now its not. WHY?!?!?

[wickywills]

I recently decided to do a format of my system to install XP Pro (so that i could create ASP.net files in IIS, cant use IIS with XP Home), but ever since then its been all downhill.

Setup files kept coming up with bugs and errors for practically every program i installed. I have even resorted to installing on our other PC (also XP Pro), and copying the files accross once install completes.

I have since done another 2 formats of the hard drive and downgraded back to XP Home, but setup files are still coming up with errors like "could not copy T34DY.bin", "file is corrupt" and many similar errors on many different programs. These same programs all work fine on our other PC, but not on mine.

Do you guys have any suggestions?? Any help is very much appreciated! If you need me to explain anything else, just ask. I really need this sorted!

thanks
James Wills

 

[bcastner]

This is usually indicative of bad RAM.

You receive a file copy error while the Setup program is running

When you try to install Windows XP, you may receive one of the following error messages:

Setup cannot copy the file file_name. Press X to retry, Y to abort

where file_name is the file that Setup cannot copy, or:

INF File Textsetup.sif is corrupt or missing Status 14 SETUP CANNOT CONTINUE

This behavior may occur if any one of the following conditions is true:
• Your Windows XP CD-ROM is scratched, smudged, or dirty. Clean the Windows XP CD-ROM with a soft cloth, insert it in the CD-ROM drive, and then click OK.
• Your CD-ROM drive is not working correctly or the CD-ROM might be vibrating too much for the laser to accurately read the data. For more information about this problem, see your hardware documentation or contact the CD-ROM manufacturer.
• If you are using multiple CD-ROM drives, your computer may be trying to locate files on the wrong drive. If your hardware has a feature to disable CD-ROM drives that are not being used, disable the CD-ROM drives that you are not using.
• Your computer is over-clocked. Because over-clocking is very memory-intensive, decoding errors may occur when you extract files from your Windows XP CD-ROM.
• Try to use the default clock timings for your motherboard and processor. For more information about how to do this, see your hardware documentation or contact the motherboard manufacturer.
• Your computer has damaged or mismatched random access memory (RAM) or cache memory. For example, you might be using a combination of extended data out (EDO) and non-EDO RAM, or different RAM speeds.

Decoding errors may occur even if Windows appears to be running correctly. These errors occur because of the additional stress that is put on your computer when Windows tries to extract files and to access the hard disk.

To determine how to make your computer cache memory unavailable while you are running the Setup program, see your hardware documentation or contact your hardware manufacturer.
• Ultra direct memory access (DMA) is turned on in your computer's CMOS settings, and the data is moving too quickly.
• Change from DMA mode to Processor Input/Output (PIO) mode to lower your data transfer rate. If this does not resolve the problem, lower your PIO mode settings. The higher your PIO mode settings are, the faster your data transfer is.
• You are using a third-party memory manager.
• There is a virus on your computer.

If you continue to receive this error message, copy the i386 folder from the CD-ROM drive to your local hard disk, and then try to run the Setup program from your hard disk.

 

[linney]

Free RAM testers that boot from floppy.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Disable any Bios enabled virus scanning.

Use the check lists in these MSKB articles as a guide to troubleshooting.

HOW TO: Prepare to Upgrade Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition to Windows XP(Q316639)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q316/6/39.asp

310064 - HOW TO: Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation When You Upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310064&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[wickywills]

Apologies for the very late reply, thanks to both of you for helping me with this matter.

It appears that the ram was faulty. I have two different ram sticks in there (worked fine for the last month or so beforehand). Ran one of the ram testers, and 2 of the tests failed:

Stride6
Erand

dont have a clue what either of these mean, but it cant be a good thing.

 

[bcastner]

Toss both and buy new (buy two sticks, not one) from a reputable source.

I have been very happy with Crucial, but this is not an endorsement.