Recently, I bought Windows XP so I could upgrade my OS from Windows 98. However, each time I’ve tried to do install Windows XP, it stops late in the setup phase and announces it’s unable to complete the process on grounds “setup file C is corrupted and cannot be repaired.” (BTW, the C drive is where the Windows 98 OS is.)
What should I do? Is my computer shot? Is this problem I’m having installing Windows XP related to the problem I’ve been having for the last month running “flash” programs? I tried using my clean manager, disc scan, and defrag functions before installing but they’ve been no help. I also ran virus and spyware scans using Ad-aware 6.0, SpyWare Blaster, Spybot Search, and Tune Up Utilities 2004 but they’ve also done nothing to solve my problem.
I’d like your imput on this. Here is some information about my computer:
Micro Pro Custom System built in 2000.
AMD K-7 Athlon 700 MHz CPU (CPU-094205+)
PC100 256 MB (128 MB newly installed)
IBM 20.5 GB, 7200 RPM ULTRA 66
GeFORCE 4, MX 440 AGP 8X Video Card, 64 MB DDR (Newly installed.)
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Please, please, please get an expert opinion on this. That said, I tend to just format my HD if I can reinstall any OS. Pain in the ass and time consuming to reinstall all the programs/software you have, but I tend to make an afternoon of it.
That and you may have a nasty bug in there (C drive) that makes this needed.
YMMV, and all that. But if you don’t have anything critical that can’t be replaced, it may be your best bet. New beginnings and all that.
When installing a new OS (or upgrading), you should always wipe the hard drive if possible. The upgrade disc to Windows XP doesn’t require an older Windows installation - the only thing you’ll need is your Windows 98 disc to verify you have an older version. If you have the full version of Windows XP, this shouldn’t even be a problem. From the installation options you should be able to delete the data on your hard drives and select a new one to install Windows XP on.
Back up your important data, wipe the hard drive(s), and start a new. It’s better for your computer and it just might work this way.
If it’s saying “Setup file C” and not “The C Drive” then it sounds like something is wrong with your Windows XP installation CD. Is it scratched or scuffed at all?
If this turns out to be the problem I would contact either Microsoft or your retailer and let them know. They should be able to do something about that.
Windows XP was just starting to become the norm when I was still building and fixing computers so I never ran into this particular problem. Obviously my speculation should not be taken as gospel :).
There isn’t anything in the BIOS that needs upgraded to run XP, unless you are talking about updating the BIOS so that it can handle a 20 gig drive natively instead of relying on some sort of drive overlay program. Is there something like ez-bios or max-blaster or something that is installed on the drive so that 98 can handle it? If so, then you probably will want to update the BIOS or at least get a later version of the drive overlay program so that it will work with XP.
I also recommend wiping the disk and installing XP from scratch. You’ll run into many fewer problems that way.
Also, you may need to disable boot sector virus protection in the BIOS setup.
First off you may need a BIOS upgrade. XP uses different features like ACPI. Check the manufacturer’s website.
I’ll assume you only have one partition and a standalone system. You’ll want 3+ GB free before you start.
Second, using Windows 98, perform the following steps:
Create two boot floppies which run himem.sys. and have sys.com and smartdrv.exe on it (just in case).
Copy the whole XP CD to a subdirectory on your HDD (e.g. c:\XP).
Download Windows XP SP1 and slipstream that onto the copied XP.
Download XP drivers for all your hardware and put them in a seperate area. Don’t forget the Hyperion(?) chipset drivers.
Make sure you have XP install sets for all your applications. Don’t forget the little utilities like Google Toolbar! If you don’t already have one, download a firewall like ZoneAlarm.
Tidy up your HDD (clean up temporary files etc) so you have at least 2 GB free, preferably more.
Make notes of all important settings - ISP details, passwords etc. Export your Favourites and Cookies. It’s a good opportunity to back up critical stuff.
Close down the machine.
Boot the machine and go into the BIOS. Check that you’re not overclocking, you don’t have any speed optimisations etc, and reset the PCI ECSD data.
Boot off your floppy and run SMARTDRV.exe.
Rename c:\windows\win.com and c:\windows\win.ini
Rename c:\windows
Rename c:\Program Files
This effectively creates a clean install situation - XP won’t pick up the old installation and you can easily revert to your old Windows 98 installation by renaming everything back and running sys c:.
Run the XP setup program from where you copied the CD (c:\xp\i386\winnt.exe /s:c:\xp\i386).
Obviously don’t choose to reformat; less obviously, don’t convert the drive to NTFS - save that for your next installation.
Don’t connect to the Internet until you have a firewall in place.
Your message can also mean it cannot read in the data file it needs off the CD. Look at your XP install CD and see if it is deeply scratched or damaged.
As everyone else indicated (assuming the CD is OK) a clean formatted (and possibly re-partitioned in your case) boot solves 90% of the problems like this.
If you still get the message after a clean install simply doa hard re-boot and see if the machine can correct it’s own install error on the re-reoot.
One warning. Your machine is right in the age range where some machines and CD drives cannot boot from the CD drive for OS installs, and some could. Even if the PC BIOS lists the capability some CD drives are too old to use this auto-boot capability. If this is the case you will need to re-install Win98 and then install XP from Windows.
Are you running any driver overlay software? If you are, I’d suggest removing it. Other than that, I’d recommend formatting your HD in NTFS, and installing XP as astro suggests.
There is a Microsoft boot disk for WinXP that allows you to install XP without having an auto-boot capable computer. It’s available somewhere on the Microsoft website and takes 6 floppies.
Really? When we upgraded our HP Vectra VLi systems from NT 4.0 Workstation to Windows 2000 Professional, it was absolutely necessary to upgrade the BIOS to avoid random BSODs and other aberrant behavior. These were purchased in late 1999 and early 2000, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all to find that a system purchased in 2000 would need a BIOS upgrade to run reliably with XP. A lot of these problems relate to removeable devices, support for which was rudimentary in 98 and nonexistent in NT 4.0, but is an integral part of Windows XP.
I’ve even had to do BIOS upgrades in order to be able to safely install service packs (e.g. the IBM Thinkpad T30, which must be upgraded to at least BIOS 1.06, IIRC, to install Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, unless you want all sorts of things to break randomly).
In addition to the BIOS, I would also check the video card firmware and hard drive firmware (if any).