Poioter won't boot from CD & won't allow re-instal

One of our old computers (MSI Mega-PC) has developed a hernia and now
won't read its OS (Windows XP) from the hd, and won't read any OS CD.

It falls over at boot with an error message saying one file or another
is faulty, and that maybe I can restore this with the original setup disk.

Putting in a (known good) Windows XP install disk brings the error message:
line 6174 of INF file \i386\txtsetup.sif is invalid. Setup cannot continue.

Actually the error message is saying that, but I bet is triggered by
something else - perhaps even whatever is in Line 6174 being different
from what it expects to find in the pooter.

Anyhow I then tried with Suse 10, Mandriva, Knoppix and Ubuntu - all
known good CDs. Each time, when it gets to "uncompressing files", it
falls over with a CRC error, system halted.

I've tried the obvious stuff like no acpi & framebuffer variants.
Knoppix wouldn't even boot in plain text mode.

I suppose this must either be a dead or dying HD, or perhaps faulty RAM.

Any suggestions, apart from binning the whole box?

Philip

 

I've seen a few XP boxes with faulty RAM throw a fit when trying to re-install.
Problem disappeared with a good stick

You could try a HD diagnostic first, then Memtest.

 

Its the ram. Get the free MS ram tester or else memtest on it. If there are 2
sticks swap them if there are problems and re-test, often they go away.

 

Sadly, swapping RAM sticks, and even replacing them with two new ones,
didn't change the sisutation.

Maybe it is a mobo fault?

Philip

 

RAM seen this b4 with a MSI MegaPC

James