Hello o gurus,
One more question on my struggle to build a new computer, this time hardware related. It all started while I was feeling noble and decided to actually purchase a real, full version of Windows XP Pro. I have a academic version from my local college, but wanted a good version. So, I picked a Windows XP Professional Full SP1 OEM disc/keycode up for 100 bucks on the net. I got it, the disc looks great, all the holographics and genuine and fady border and everything is right - so I'm under the impression it is indeed a real disc.
So, I pop it in. After fixing some memory errors first off (That's another story.) I got the install to work. Setup initially copies all files over and then asks me to reboot the first time. The system comes back up, the fancy Windows XP loading bar screen passes, and it goes into the fancy GUI portion of the setup. It stares at me for a couple minutes, and pops the error: "An error has ben encountered that prevents setup from continuing. one of the components that windows needs to continue setup could not be installed: F:\I386\ASMS"
I'm like... wha? I've tried it a bunch of times with the same effect. So, I tried popping my old academic version in just for laughs. That one works fine, XP installed and good to go. So, my conclusion was that it was a bad disc. I put it in a different working computer and looked through the CD, found that I386/ASMS folder, and everything seemed to look fine. As per advice of another forum, I tried to copy the entire CD to the hard drive to see if there were corrupt files. It was doing all good until it got into the I386 folder, when the cd drive started making funny noises and half locked up my computer. Eventually it gave me the old "cannot copy source file" error. I tried the same thing with my academic version, but that one had no problem copying the files to the hard drive.
Getting to the point, it seems to me like the real CD is corrupt somehow. Have any of you heard of this kind of thing? Or maybe is it some fancy cd protection that the academic version doesn't have on it? The guy I bought it from has no problem giving me a new disc as long as I send mine back, so I could try to go that route... but I'd rather not wait 2 weeks and pay shipping costs if theres nothing actually wrong with the disc. But who could I get an opinion from? How about them crazy computer gurus on Anandtech? You guys always seem to have the answers. You got me this far, is anybody nice enough to help me go the last step? Thanks a million!
*It would be awesome if one of you out there with the same WXP Pro SP1 Full OEM disc could try copying that I386 folder to your hard drive and tell me if it works or not. That would be the easiest way to tell if my disc is bad or not!*
Ross Adam Baker
One more question on my struggle to build a new computer, this time hardware related. It all started while I was feeling noble and decided to actually purchase a real, full version of Windows XP Pro. I have a academic version from my local college, but wanted a good version. So, I picked a Windows XP Professional Full SP1 OEM disc/keycode up for 100 bucks on the net. I got it, the disc looks great, all the holographics and genuine and fady border and everything is right - so I'm under the impression it is indeed a real disc.
So, I pop it in. After fixing some memory errors first off (That's another story.) I got the install to work. Setup initially copies all files over and then asks me to reboot the first time. The system comes back up, the fancy Windows XP loading bar screen passes, and it goes into the fancy GUI portion of the setup. It stares at me for a couple minutes, and pops the error: "An error has ben encountered that prevents setup from continuing. one of the components that windows needs to continue setup could not be installed: F:\I386\ASMS"
I'm like... wha? I've tried it a bunch of times with the same effect. So, I tried popping my old academic version in just for laughs. That one works fine, XP installed and good to go. So, my conclusion was that it was a bad disc. I put it in a different working computer and looked through the CD, found that I386/ASMS folder, and everything seemed to look fine. As per advice of another forum, I tried to copy the entire CD to the hard drive to see if there were corrupt files. It was doing all good until it got into the I386 folder, when the cd drive started making funny noises and half locked up my computer. Eventually it gave me the old "cannot copy source file" error. I tried the same thing with my academic version, but that one had no problem copying the files to the hard drive.
Getting to the point, it seems to me like the real CD is corrupt somehow. Have any of you heard of this kind of thing? Or maybe is it some fancy cd protection that the academic version doesn't have on it? The guy I bought it from has no problem giving me a new disc as long as I send mine back, so I could try to go that route... but I'd rather not wait 2 weeks and pay shipping costs if theres nothing actually wrong with the disc. But who could I get an opinion from? How about them crazy computer gurus on Anandtech? You guys always seem to have the answers. You got me this far, is anybody nice enough to help me go the last step? Thanks a million!
*It would be awesome if one of you out there with the same WXP Pro SP1 Full OEM disc could try copying that I386 folder to your hard drive and tell me if it works or not. That would be the easiest way to tell if my disc is bad or not!*
Ross Adam Baker
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