grr, wtf is wrong

[slightlyhuman]

K, my gf's pc was running ass slow about a week ago. virus, spyware all that jazz. well a few days ago it just stopped loading windows. it's a year old, 512ddr 2.6 celeron, 120gb HD w/ xp home. well after formatting it it tries to copy the file for setup. it gets to about 11% and says setup cannot copy the file: c_850.nls and gives me the option to skip the file, retry, or quit setup. i kept holding the retry button but no go. this was a xp pro cd. i put another xp pro cd in, formatted and it did the same thing, cannot copy the file.

well i was thinking wtf is going on so i swapped cd drives and tried it, no go same problem. so i formatted it this morning and threw windows 98 on it to see if it's a hardware issue. windows 98 loaded with no problems whatsoever and has ran all day today. i just got a xp home cd from a friend since i can't find mine. format then the same damn error comes up. this cd is in perfect condition too, what gives?

if i press escape to skip the file it can't copy it either comes up another file cannot copy or a BSOD shows up saying:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
if this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, yatta yatta.

why is it doing this with windows xp home and pro but it installed windows 98 fine?


please help asap

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

Only thing I can think of is that Win98 is less picky with failing hardware than XP.. Try running Memtest 86+ to see if you can come up with any memory errors. Also, get a drive testing utility from your HDD's manufacturer.. My guess is it's the HDD. Remember, XP loads up your drive differently with NTFS than Win9x and FAT32. You may also try formatting the drive in FAT32 then putting XP on.. If that works, then it's a HDD issue.

 

[Bozo Galora]

850nls is a language related file

you are going to have to try dif pci slot combos

xp supports higher level acpi and apic vers. - many more irq's than Win 98's 16 and sharing on IRQ 9 or 11
if you have options in these in bios, lower or disable apic. or manually assign no share irq's (mobo manual)

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
850nls is a language related file

you are going to have to try dif pci slot combos

xp supports higher level acpi and apic vers. - many more irq's than Win 98's 16 and sharing on IRQ 9 or 11
if you have options in these in bios, lower or disable apic. or manually assign no share irq's (mobo manual)

He said it was running XP fine and then puked... Sounds like hardware failure not IRQ or ACPI problem.

 

[LED]

Clean the Memory contacts and set the BIOS to default

 

[gobucks]

yeah, i got the same errors with windows installation on my new mobo, it's definitely memory related. For some reason, I had to switch my dual channel kit from DIMM slots 0 & 1 to 2 & 3, and that cleared it up. I think it's likely a BIOS memory recognition problem. Try updating your bios, and maybe dusting off the memory and the slots, and maybe even moving the DIMMs to different slots or something.

 

[Bozo Galora]

Originally posted by: GonzoDaGr8


He said it was running XP fine and then puked... Sounds like hardware failure not IRQ or ACPI problem.

Actually, he said he reformatted the drive twice AFTER it quit. So the new install had to configure the HW all at once, perhaps not bit by bit as in the past incarnation.

He also said Win 98 runs fine all day with the hardware now in box - so all your failure stuff has no relevance.

 

[slightlyhuman]

finally swtiched the memory, worked like a charm.

it had 512 in there but all i have spare is 256. i wanna throw the 512 in the second slot to give her 768 but i'm paranoid that it might corrupt the hd and i'll have to format again?


what are the chances of it effing up the install by putting the 512 stick in the 2nd slot?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: DP
finally swtiched the memory, worked like a charm.

it had 512 in there but all i have spare is 256. i wanna throw the 512 in the second slot to give her 768 but i'm paranoid that it might corrupt the hd and i'll have to format again?


what are the chances of it effing up the install by putting the 512 stick in the 2nd slot?

If you suspect the memory is bad, do not put it back in your machine (you can use memtest86 for some more thorough testing). If it is defective, it will cause system instability, and/or gradually corrupt your hard drive.

 

[slightlyhuman]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: DP
finally swtiched the memory, worked like a charm.

it had 512 in there but all i have spare is 256. i wanna throw the 512 in the second slot to give her 768 but i'm paranoid that it might corrupt the hd and i'll have to format again?


what are the chances of it effing up the install by putting the 512 stick in the 2nd slot?

If you suspect the memory is bad, do not put it back in your machine (you can use memtest86 for some more thorough testing). If it is defective, it will cause system instability, and/or gradually corrupt your hard drive.

well that's where i'm confused. it installed windows 98 fine no problems whatsoever but gave me problems with XP. if it was completely bad wouldn't it screw up on just about any OS?

thx

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: DP

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: DP
finally swtiched the memory, worked like a charm.

it had 512 in there but all i have spare is 256. i wanna throw the 512 in the second slot to give her 768 but i'm paranoid that it might corrupt the hd and i'll have to format again?


what are the chances of it effing up the install by putting the 512 stick in the 2nd slot?

If you suspect the memory is bad, do not put it back in your machine (you can use memtest86 for some more thorough testing). If it is defective, it will cause system instability, and/or gradually corrupt your hard drive.

well that's where i'm confused. it installed windows 98 fine no problems whatsoever but gave me problems with XP. if it was completely bad wouldn't it screw up on just about any OS?

thx

Test it with memtest86 (and try a few runs of Prime95's torture tests as well) if you want to be sure. It may be that WinXP uses more memory while installing (or allocates its memory differently); "it worked doing X but failed doing Y" is not a good sign regardless. Flaky memory is capricious -- it'll run fine doing certain things, then fail miserably at others. Any sort of instability is a Very Bad Thing.

 

[Bozo Galora]

now that is strange stuff
512 stick runs in win 98
doesnt run in XP
256 stick runs in Win 98
256 stick runs in XP

oh well, live and learn

 

[LED]

Take a clean Pencil Eraser and rub/clean the metal contacts of the Mem stick then try it...