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Hi there

I hope someone can offer some words of advice because I'm totally stuck!

In short - I'm trying to install XP Home on a friend's PC. The PC was running Win 98 but was so riddled with viruses that Windows wouldn't boot at all, even in Safe Mode. The computer was formatted and I've been trying to install XP Home Edition on it for him from a CD I have. The CD-ROM is bootable and Windows Setup whirs into action initially but then grinds to a halt with an message that there's an error in the .sif fine in Line-X (the line number changes each time) and the only choice is to restart the PC.

I've not got the unit in front of me but, from memory, it's an Athlon XP 2800

Anyone got any ideas they can put across in layman's speak? I honestly don't know where to go from here; I've never had a problem with a clean install of XP before!

Emma

Welcome to PCHF justemma!

Here's what Microsoft say about this:

? Your Windows XP CD-ROM is scratched, smudged, or dirty. Clean the Windows XP CD-ROM with a soft cloth, insert it in the CD-ROM drive, and then click OK.?
? Your CD-ROM drive is not working correctly or the CD-ROM might be vibrating too much for the laser to accurately read the data. For more information about this problem, see your hardware documentation or contact the CD-ROM manufacturer.
? If you are using multiple CD-ROM drives, your computer may be trying to locate files on the wrong drive. If your hardware has a feature to disable CD-ROM drives that are not being used, disable the CD-ROM drives that you are not using.
? Your computer is over-clocked. Because over-clocking is very memory-intensive, decoding errors may occur when you extract files from your Windows XP CD-ROM.
? Try to use the default clock timings for your motherboard and processor. For more information about how to do this, see your hardware documentation or contact the motherboard manufacturer.?
? Your computer has damaged or mismatched random access memory (RAM) or cache memory. For example, you might be using a combination of extended data out (EDO) and non-EDO RAM, or different RAM speeds.

Decoding errors may occur even if Windows appears to be running correctly. These errors occur because of the additional stress that is put on your computer when Windows tries to extract files and to access the hard disk.

To determine how to make your computer cache memory unavailable while you are running the Setup program, see your hardware documentation or contact your hardware manufacturer.
? Ultra direct memory access (DMA) is turned on in your computer's CMOS settings, and the data is moving too quickly.
? Change from DMA mode to Processor Input/Output (PIO) mode to lower your data transfer rate. If this does not resolve the problem, lower your PIO mode settings. The higher your PIO mode settings are, the faster your data transfer is.
? You are using a third-party memory manager.
? There is a virus on your computer.

Take your pick - if none of these is true then post back please

Hey there Hengis & many thanks for your reply!

I don't think the problem stems from any of the first points MS state; the disc is fine (I used it a few weeks ago to install one of my own machines without incident), there's one CD-ROM and it appears to be working without any issues. I've also restored the PC to default settings in case there was anything there causing issues.

The DMO/PIO stuff was a wee bit over my head (I can just about build a PC and install Windows but all the nitty gritty makes me drift off and start thinking about elves, birds, dogs and wine). The computer definitely had virus issues, even though my mate says he didn't *cough* porn *cough* do anything that would *cough* porn *cough* have caused it to become so *cough* porn *cough* infected. I thought anything virus-related would have been wiped out when he formatted it though?

I will post back when I have stopped laughing...I love your sense of humour!!! :-D

...oh, and when I have something else to try of course

Which .sif file was it referencing? This one - txtsetup.sif ?

:-D Wicked Funny Emma,

When you did the formatting, did the PC allow you to format into NTFS or were you stuck with Fat?

It was a problem for me when I tried to go from Me to XP even with the formatting. I had to reformat several times to get it to load, and even then had to stick with the Fat file format. It wasn't until I used one of our Super Techs Merlin's multi formatting that I could change to NTFS. I'm with you on the too techie stuff, so unless one of the guys can tell you what the error is, I'd try his formatting trick. You can check it out here, it's great.

Also, did you run a BIOS selfcheck on the machine? Might be useful.

TTFN

T

...sorry, a little late replying here...you know what it's like, life in the bus lane and all that.

Anyway...the nightmare with the machine goes on. Oddly it's not referencing any particular .sif file when it comes up with the syntax error, it literally says there is an error in the ".sif" file...which is odd....

I've not done a BIOS self-check...but I'll certainly get my feelers out and ask it to cough and look sideways later to see if there's anything amiss.

I've also tried the new-age route but can report that positive thinking, whale music and chanting in a circle of sandelwood candles before loading XP didn't work either. I *thought* the 'half a bottle of Jack Daniels' approach had worked because, when switching on, XP sprang into life; unfortunately my celebrations were short-lived as it turned out I was on the wrong computer.