Can you exchange a defective XP cdrom?

[gdc9j]

Hi All,

I have an XP Pro OEM cd which will not load onto my system. I have managed to load Win98 and another (borrowed) copy of XP Pro onto my rig, so I'm pretty sure that hardware is not at fault. I've searched the Microsoft site with no luck, and nobody's home at Newegg (my retailer) right now, and they show that software is not allowed an RMA. I'll be calling Newegg in the morning, but does anyone know whether Microsoft will help? And how to contact them if they will? I ran in circles through MS's so-called support center, and never managed to get an email address or anything.

Any assistance appreciated,

Gary

 

[Lord Evermore]

Microsoft won't help you because it's an OEM copy, which they won't even admit is legal for you to have purchased. Newegg should RMA it if it is provably defective, but there might be a hassle due to the issue of CD keys and stuff. Can you see anything actually wrong on the disc?

 

[gdc9j]

I can see nothing wrong on the disk, it LOOKS fine. Problem occurs when I try to load onto my new system - setup establishes partition OK, formats in NTFS, copies the OS files to disk, then reboots to continue the process. On reboot, I get the post screen, which then hangs with error message "ERROR LOADING OPERATING SYSTEM". I've thrashed my hardware seven ways to Sunday, and can't find anything wrong. I've loaded my old copy of Win98 on there, which formatted the drive and installed the OS with no problem. The system also runs well off a Win98 boot floppy and Dr. DOS, plus I just installed an image of XP pro (borrowed) that appears to be working fine. That kind of leads me to think something is goobered on this blasted CD, which the Newegg website shows as unable to RMA. I'll give them a call tomorrow, I guess.

In any event, and other suggestions are welcome!

Thanks,

Gary

 

[crisp82]

I have this problem too. I either receive the message concerning Error loading Operating System or Missing Operating System.

 

[gdc9j]

Well, at least I'm not alone here! Yesterday I borrowed a system image and loaded it on my rig, with no problems at all. Looks like the machine CAN run XP Pro OK, just won't install off my original CD. Not sure what to do now.

Crisp82, what is your system config, and what have you tried to get your system to load the XP?

You can check my problem description here

I'd be interested to know if we've been having the same problem. Did you receive your CD recently?

Gary

 

[Lord Evermore]

Hmm, have you tried that CD on a different computer? Or with a different CDROM drive in yours?

 

[Prfstrkr]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
Hmm, have you tried that CD on a different computer? Or with a different CDROM drive in yours?

yeah, that's the most important point.

 

[gdc9j]

The only other comp I have available to test install the XP is pretty old, a Pentium 133 built in '96 - I suspect that won't cut it. I may yank the cd-rom out of it though, and see if that helps (8 or 10X). I can also borrow a DVD drive from another machine - those are good ideas, I'll give it a try.

Thanks,

gary

 

[Lord Evermore]

You might be able to at least see whether the OS will install and boot without that error on the old machine; the speed of it won't matter until you're actually in the GUI.

 

[Doomer]

As long as the CD is legit and you have the license key then it doesn't matter what media you use to install. Beg, borrow or steal another copy and you should be all set.

It does, however, have to be another OEM copy. The magic is in the license, not the media.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Yeah but it'd kinda suck to not actually have your valid, original CD and always have to use a copy of someone else's.

 

[gdc9j]

Well, whadaya know.

I pulled my old 10X Acer cd-910e out of my oldest box, popped it in, promptly forgot to unplug the burner and set the Acer up as master, shut down again, got the Acer configured as secondary master, booted on up off the cd, and darned if it didn't work! I'm about half-way through the install now, and have lugged the new beast in here to plug into my network connection and finish up my activation. I can't figure why my nice, new, state-of-the-art Asus CRW-5224A might be screwing up my Windows installation, but it evidently is. Guess I'll finish my install off the 10X, and then reinstall the Asus burner.

Thank you all for the suggestions! It's great to be able to get some helpful hints when you've hit that brick wall, and just can't quite get your brain thinking "out of the box".

Thanks again,

Gary