*** Win XP setup cannot copy files!!!! HELP!!!! ***

[CoasterGuy]

OK guys, I am COMPLETELY STUMPED AND FRUSTRATED!!!!

I have tried for two days to install Windows XP Pro (Full version) on my computer and each of the 50+ times I get an error during install. It will get through the initial file copy phase and after reboot - license agreement - partition selection - create list of files - then BAM!!!! EVERYTIME it starts to copy files it says "The file xxxxxx.xxx was not copied correctly. The file placed on your hard drive is not a valid Windows XP system image.". And everytime it is a DIFFERENT file. I initially tried to install on a DFI AK76-SN motherboard and this happened and I tried everything listed below. I thought it was a bad motherboard. So I then tried everything on a Gigabyte GA-7DXR, and got the EXACT same problem.


My system components....

DFI AK76-SN & Gigabyte GA-7DXR
Athlon 1.4 Ghz
Maxtor 20GB
MSI GeForce 2 GTS
Creative 52x
Crucial PC2100 (2 sticks 1 - 256mb, 1 - 128mb)
DLink NIC
300w Power Supply (Supplied in UNEEC case I bought)



Here is what I have tried......

I switched out all of these components - each one at a time and restarted setup......

Swapped Hard Drives - Maxtor 20GB & IBM 75GXP 15GB
Swapped Video cards - MSI GeForce 2 GTS & STB TNT
Swapped CD-ROMS - Creative 52x & NEC 48x
Swapped CPUs - Athlon 1.4 & Athlon (Palamino) 1900+
Swapped PC2100 DDR
Used just one stick of RAM
Switced 80 pin IDE/ATA 100 cables
Removed NIC
Format HD with Win 98SE boot disk
Fdisk'd
Formatted MBR using fdisk/mbr
Updated BIOS to latest version
Set BIOS failsafe defaults
Tried to install from HD and CD-ROM
Used 3 different cpoies of Windows XP Pro CD
- OEM
- Full version
- Friends copy of Full version


I have looked on TechNET and all over the forums and can find no solution. I find it hard to believe that 2 motherboards I have went bad at exactly the same time.

Any ideas guys? I HAVE HAD IT WITH THIS THING!!!!!!

Help a suicidal computer nerd find his sanity again. PLEASE!!!!!

 

[Slikkster]

I'd remove everything but the video card, hard drive (after copying setup files to it), Ram, keyboard, mouse. Also, lower your FSB via the jumpers on that DFI board to 200 vs. 266. See if she'll fly. Reset FSB after a successful install. Additionally, I looked at the DFI manual for that board. Can you use 40-wire ide cables on it if you want ATA-33 speed? It looks like it's an auto-detect with 80-wire, but the pins are the same on 40-wire, so might be worth a shot to kick down the ata speed at install with a 40-wire cable just to get the thing going.

 

[fr]

I think it's a BIOS setting that's causing the problem. Try going as conservative as possible (disabling all caching, slowest timings) if the fail-safe setting doesn't already do it.

 

[coomarlin]

The same things happened to me and I tried everything. In the end the only thing that would work for me was formatting the disk in NTFS instead of Fat32. Weird, but it worked. I really didn't care anyway because I've been planning on switching to NTFS anyway.

 

[o11o1o1]

If this is a bootlegged copy of XP i can definately tell you is the CD. Else try updating your BIOS.

 

[bruincal]

Have you tried using a boot disk, and copying the entire \I386\ folder from the CD onto your hard drive first? You can then run setup from your hard drive, and if it still fails, you've got a corrupted install CD

 

[zzzz]

This can also happen if the cpu or ram is bad..

 

[CoasterGuy]

I switched the RAM and it worked fine. I dont really understand why though because I tried this other stick of RAM before and it didnt work, but now it does. Go figure. I also ran MemTest on the old stick and it had errors galore.

Thanks guys.