Beware of a bad Windows CD if you have setup probs

[Ken90630]

For all you guys with limited experience building new machines, just thought I'd pass something along.

I just went thru utter hell building a new computer for a friend. After hours & hours of trying to figure out why I kept getting BSODs, turns out the prob was a scratched (I guess) Windows XP CD.

I was trying all kinds of things: trying only one stick of RAM at a time, trying different slots, disconnecting components, running hard drive diagnostics, adjusting RAM voltage & other things in the BIOS, trying to reformat, and wondering if maybe the mobo or PSU might have been bad outta the box, etc. I thought sure I had a hardware prob, but then I tried a different Windows XP Home CD and everything went smooth as silk.

So file that away in your memory bank -- it is possible for a scratched or otherwise damaged Windows CD to give you symptoms that look like a hardware or driver problem during setup when it's not. Kudos to mechBgon for alerting me to the possiblity and sparing me a complete nervous breakdown. 🙂

 

[Rubycon]

This is why I recommend using your favorite CD burning program to create an ISO of the original disk and store it somewhere (NAS etc.) so you can make a backup copy "on demand".

When you spend as much time in remote locations (offshore literally hehe) as I do, these practices become the standard. 🙂

 

[Seekermeister]

Making a backup copy is the disks is a very good idea, but a Windows CD can be bad without any apparent damage by the user. I received a corrupt CD in a brand new set of MCE disks, and since they are OEM nobody will make good for the defective disk.

 

[oynaz]

In cases like Seekermeister's, just get an ISO off BitTorrent.

 

[Oyeve]

Also, I have experienced this many times. Even if you make a perfect copy of your XP disk the copy can actually crap out. This has happened to me a few times. Turned out to be burning at a high speed. If I make a copy I burn at the slowest speed the burner can do and have no problems. If I dupe the disk at a high speed, 24x or higher, I notice a much higher failure rate during installs. Weird but true.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
This is why I recommend using your favorite CD burning program to create an ISO of the original disk

XP OEM/DSP with SP2 slipstreamed then burned to CD. :thumbsup:

I made an .ISO image and keep it on my secondary storage drive. I burned a few copies on good TY media so I would have at least one handy and not have to go looking around the house for my XP install CD. I've been known to misplace such things.

If only Microsoft would give us SP3. I'm tired of having 65+ patches to download from Windows Update or apply from AutoPatcher after a fresh install. SP3 is way overdue.

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

If only Microsoft would give us SP3. I'm tired of having 65+ patches to download from Windows Update or apply from AutoPatcher after a fresh install. SP3 is way overdue.

Amen! :thumbsup: I'm doing that tonight, and it's just more fun than any human should be allowed to have. :roll:

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
This is why I recommend using your favorite CD burning program to create an ISO of the original disk

XP OEM/DSP with SP2 slipstreamed then burned to CD. :thumbsup:

I made an .ISO image and keep it on my secondary storage drive. I burned a few copies on good TY media so I would have at least one handy and not have to go looking around the house for my XP install CD. I've been known to misplace such things.

If only Microsoft would give us SP3. I'm tired of having 65+ patches to download from Windows Update or apply from AutoPatcher after a fresh install. SP3 is way overdue.

SP3 is coming out real soon, its called Vista. :

 

[Pciber]

Also, don't base your hardware diagnostics on windows-based tools - if windows is corrupt or otherwise not working properly, it won't be accurate.

I keep a CD around with memtest, a hard drive scanner, CPU stress tester, etc. the Ultimate Boot CD (.com) works pretty well.

 

[tcsenter]

SP3 is coming out real soon, its called Vista. :

EEEK! A Service Pack is supposed improve code maturity and fix bugs, not revert back to infancy and introduce bugs!

Windows XP RTM all over again. 😕

I didn't even install XP for test driving until SP1 was released, and didn't adopt it until SP2. I figure Vista will first grace my PC around 2008-ish.