Windows not installing (hardware error?)

[nVRuckus]

Ok I sually fix these on my own (since i do it for a living) but i cant seem to figure this one out. I have a computer that I was in the process of reformating. I go to install windows XP and in the middle of the installation it says cannot copy xxxx.file so i think maybe its my cd I retry it with another cd and another 8 different installer cds they all have the same problem but in different areas of the install not all on the same file but all while copying files. So i figure it may be a bad cd-rom swap it out for a known working one, same problem. Ok maybe it is the Harddrive so i swap it out for a new WD drive, same problem. I even switched out all the cabling(went from sharing an IDE cable for the HD and CD to having 1 device on each available IDE. Only things I havent switched on this computer are the motherboard, Processor, Heatsink/fan, and videocard. Could one of these cause this problem? I wouldnt think it was the heatsink or proc since that woulsd usually cause freezing, but maybe someone else might know.


Thanks in advance because this really has me stumped 🙁

 

[Kyanzes]

Memory failure?

 

[bendixG15]

I go along with Kyanzes

i had a similiar problem.

It was a memory failure alright, wrote garbage to the hard drive
and the file could not be read.

In my case, the memory stick was okay, it was the memory slot on the mobo that was bad.

Give memtest a shot.

 

[nVRuckus]

running it now and it appears to be giving alot of errors. Im pretty sure thats gonna be the problem. Thanks guys, now i just need to see if its the bank or stick.

 

[The J]

I had a problem like that before. It kept saying that ntfs.sys was corrupt. I ended up having to set the RAM Command Rate to 2T in order for it to work.

 

[nVRuckus]

mine failed at differnt parts of the installation. Changed out the ram and put it in a different slot just to be safe and it installed fine.