Amy Field wrote:
>Upon installing XP Pro Edition, I ran into a problem. First, the XP Pro
>disk would not run in the CD-Rom drive,

In this case I might suggest going into the BIOS and changing the boot up
drive sequence. Instead of the floppy being the first drive of choice I
would change it to the CD for the duration of the installation. Please
remember, when the computer reboots during the installation process, let it
boot from the hard drive not the CD. Doing so will put you back into the
install mode. After the OS is installed, reboot the system and go back into
the BIOS and reset the boot sequence.

> so, I made a series of XP boot disks to install the drivers for the CD-Rom
>drive. They installed perfectly.

As stated above, changing the boot sequence does basically the same thing
and it may be a simpler approach. The installation disk provides various
drivers for the CD to work properly when the system is set up so the CD
boots first. It's a little time saver.

> I popped in the XP Pro disk, it presented a DOS screen, I ran setup, the
>drive formatting completed,

Did you choose the quick format or the lengthier one? When I run into
problems with a system I will use the (a) Windows 98 boot disk to wipe out
the MBR using the FDISK utility so I know the drive is completely clean. Any
remnants of an old corrupt MBR may present problems with new install.

> then I received the message that there was an >error with the SP1.CAB
>file. As a result, setup cannot complete. I have tried EVERYTHING and I am
>completely frustrated.

This may be a simple solution then again it may not. There have been times a
client will call and tell me their CD won't work or they keep getting errors
while installing this that or the other. The first thing I do is look at the
disk to see if there is any dirt or finger prints on it. Usually there is
and once the disk is cleaned, the problem is solved. On rare occasion, the
program may be corrupt which means the disk is defective.

As a last resort you may try using a Windows 98 Boot disk if you have one or
try using the one at Free PC Tech.
http://freepctech.com/pc/002/files010.shtml

I would run the FDISK Utility and wipe out the MBR and start over. This may
seem extreme but I have done this many times to avoid problems.

>We installed a new hard drive, but now fear that the >problem may be on
>the motherboard. Any thoughts?

I don't think the original hard drive is bad and I surely don't suspect the
motherboard is toast. If your drive was or is bad, you would have received
an indication while installing the operating system. Your original issue may
have been caused by general corruption and fragmentation of the drive in
general. Another or I should say several issues will cause a boot up to be
very slow. Most often when the system is booting, the process runs into a
gray area that windows is trying to decide if it likes or not. It will hang
until it decides it's safe to proceed.

Please keep us posted as to your progress if you will.

Sincerely,

Frank Suszka
netTek Computers
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