problems with windows installation

[yellowjello]

hi ive recently ordered a barebone comp and tried to install windows myself since i had it and didn't wanna pay an extra 200 for it installed.

everytime i tried to install windows it would say a certain file could not be copied. I've tried switching cd roms and harddrives and windows cds.

i even bought myself a BRAND NEW windows xp pro cd to install since i voided my warranty with the place i ordered from by opening up the system so i cant return it so i have to get this to work

but i took a harddrive and installed it into my other comp and installed xp perfectly with my original cd that failed. and used that harddrive for a while with no errors. so i unplugged it and switched it to my new comp again and it loaded up windows but it would freeze every 10-15 min.

could it be defective pieces of hardware or hardware that clashes with each other?

the specs for my new comp is

a8v deluxe mobo
amd athlon 64 3000+
evga geforce fx 5200 256 mb ddr
1 gig corsair ddr ram
sony dvd rom
lite-on dvdr
2 seagate 120 gig sata hdd

the harddrives i used for the installation was one of the sata which failed then i tried with a maxtor 80 gig ide hd then a western digital 40 gig ide hd

please help me i dont wanna waste all my money for nothing and if its a simple reason why it didnt work then yea i know im new to this whole tech thing

 

[Nodsu]

Your RAM is bad or you have heat problems. Test memory with memtest86+, try setting less aggressive memory timings in BIOS setup.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Apart from possibly faulty RAM, taking a harddisk with XP from one computer, and then sticking it into another computer, is hardly ever going to work, unless both PCs have identical hardware.
That 'transferred' XP runs with settings for that other PC, mixed with settings for the new PC. Some entries will be there double, wrong, extra, or not at all.
You should at least install all the drivers from the new motherboard-CD. If you did not get that, go make a stink where you bought your system.

 

[Desthro]

odd

I had an intrestingly similar problem with a DiabloII Expansion CD. For some odd reason, windows cannot copy a key file from the CD. What was stranger was that it failed on the same file on different CD's. So this problem isn't too unusual. I found that SP2 for winXP was the culprit, maybe the file was too large or something, but it boiled down to a good ol DOS problem, maybe a few bytes in the file signified EoF or something, who knows. Reformat the harddrives with your other computer and make sure they are clean, then go ahead and stick them in, plop in the CD and reboot. Make sure the BIOS has CD-Boot ahead of HD-Boot and see if that works. Oh, and keeping things cool might help... but I don't think this is a cooling issue. Best of luck to you!

 

[yellowjello]

thanks guys it was bad ram

once i replaced it EVERYTHING worked perfectly.

 

[poertner_1274]

Glad to see you got everything straightened out. And thank you for posting back here with your solution. It will help others in the future.

BTW
:wave:Welcome to TechSpot:wave:

 

[BillyPC]

Same problem!

I am having the same problem as Yellow...I am going to try and replace the RAM, I will post back here with my findings.

Bill

 

[BillyPC]

Problem Solved.

I downloaded Memtest 3.2 and ran that to determine that I had a bad stick of RAM. I removed the bad RAM....now the problem is fixed.

Any RAM testing program will do.

Bill