Rob Giordano (Crash) wrote:
> Howdy all...
>
> Attempting clean install of XP Pro on
> New:
> Abit mb
> Sony CD/DVD burner
> NO floppy
> Maxtor HD
> 1 gig ram
>
>
> Up till the wee hours with problem.
>
> Partitioned hd fine, two partitions C & D.
>
> XP gets up to the point where it's actually starting to install
> itself, then we get error about not finding I386, somekind of
> manifest error (forgive me but don't remember the exact errors
> since we tried it so many times, and Im now kinda burned out on
> this).
>
> For a while it would ask to put the CD in or point to where I386
> was, we tried this abt 5 times, now it doesn't even ask for that.
> We are stuck in somekind of half-installed loop.
>
> I even tried using the full XP Pro CD from my machine, that didn't
> work. We don't ever get to where it asks for the key...so I thought
> this might work..nope.
>
> This is an xmas present for my daughter so my son and I were
> messing with this for a long time. Probably tried 10 times to get
> this installed.
>
> Maybe its a bad CD or the burner is not reading it correctly?
>
> Ok...so should we reformat...but how if we're in this loop and we
> don't have a Floppy A drive?
> Should I buy an A floppy drive and try a boot disk?
> I'm sure the store where I bought the parts will replace the XP Pro
> disk if I need to also.
>
> We've tried a bunch of other things too, which I won't bore you
> with.
>
> Flustered and under the gun (of course...nothing ever goes right
> when you're rushed)

Your analysis (somewhere near the halfway point) sounds about right.

Either a bad/dirty CD or a bad CD drive.

Clean the CD with a soft/static-free cloth.
Blow out (gently) the CD drive with canned air.
Try a different CD drive - even if just a temp replacement from another
computer.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
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