Reinstalling XP Home - Corrupt Dell Installation CD

Question

I am trying to reinstall XP Home in order to troubleshoot random BSODs and physical memory dumps. I am using the Dell XP Installation CD that came with my 8250. I am doing a clean install (deleting and recreating the partition). During the Windows file copy process I get errors that certain files cannot be copied because they are not valid XP image files or there is something wrong with the CD (that's the gist of it anyway - it was late last night and I was too tired to write down the exact wording.) Anyway, I tried the install twice and it's not always the same files that give this error. The first time it was iuctl.dll and javart.dll. The second time it was ieakeng.dll, ieaksie.dll, iepeers.dll, inetcpl.dll.

Here are my questions: 1) if the original installation CD from Dell is corrupt will they give me a replacement CD (PC is not quite 18 months old and I bought a 3 year warranty) and how do I get it? (What do I have to prove?) 2) Is there some way I can just extract and install the files that gave errors?

Thanks!

Bill Snyder · Answer

(1) Have you tried cleaning the CD? There are sprays available especially for that purpose, but I have found that Endust works just as well. You use a very small amount of liquid and a VERY soft rag. I have found that that often restores a CD to useability.

(2) You might want to post on one of the Customer Care boards, or you may have to call tech support or, even worse, Customer Care, to find out whether they will replace the CD. I suspect that it is borderline: the software warrenty is only for 30 days. The three year business applies only to hardware. Is a CD hardware or software?

Denny Denham · Answer

bird1427,

Did you set your CD-ROM drive as the first boot device in BIOS before you began the installation? As for your questions:

Here are my questions: 1) if the original installation CD from Dell is corrupt will they give me a replacement CD (PC is not quite 18 months old and I bought a 3 year warranty) and how do I get it? (What do I have to prove?) Dell will replace damaged CDs within 30 days of the computer's invoice date. If yours is in fact damaged you will have to purchase a replacement.

2) Is there some way I can just extract and install the files that gave errors? If Windows is installed, you can do it, but if Windows is not installed the expand command used to do this is not available.

bird1427 · Answer

Thanks for the replies. I am going to try another installation tonight using an XP Pro CD. I want to see if I get the same type of error message about invalid XP image files. I will make sure to change the BIOS so that the CD-ROM is the first device. Dell has already sent replacement RDRAM modules and "dummy" sticks that still produced BSODs so the memory isn't the issue. (Sent those back already as I didn't want to be charged $289.) I was reading another post on Dell forum's that indicated that if I get the same error message with another CD then it's a motherboard issue.

BTW, Windows is installed so how do I run the expand command? I would like to give it a shot.

Denny Denham · Answer

bird1427,

In Windows Help and Support search on expand. The command is entered at a command prompt (Start|Run, type command and click OK), and the syntax, to expand abc.dll for example, is
expand x:\i386\abc.dl_ c:\windows\system32\abc.dll
where the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive is substituted for x.

Message Edited by Denny Denham on 06-22-2004 10:41 AM

Bill Snyder · Answer

You can expand files from msconfig (Start|Run|msconfig); there is a button on the General page.

bird1427 · Answer

Thank you both. Denny, I just tried your instructions on my PC here at the office and was able to successfully expand a test file. Do I expand the files in question directly to the directory where they are supposed to be installedn (in this case c:\windows\system32)? Is there anything that needs to be done afte that? Thanks.

Denny Denham · Answer

bird1427,

Yes, but if you are doing a clean install of XP the system32 folder will be erased in the process, so the presence of those files there will be of no help if they still can't be read from the XP reinstallation CD.

redwolfe_98 · Answer

i have experienced the same problem before, where 'copying files' would hang when reinstalling win xp.. i can't remember now what it was, but i believe that it was something that i had done earlier that caused the problem.. on my third attempt (at re-installing win xp), it worked; the files were successfully copied from the cd for reinstalling win xp.. i don't think that the problem is with the win xp cd.. i would try using dell's harddrive 'debug' (search dell support for 'debug') also, before the third attempt which worked for me, i let the computer sit for a minute before booting from the win xp cd.. i have heard that usb devices can cause problems if they are attached when reinstalling windows xp, so, if you have any usb devices attached, you should unplug them. Message Edited by redwolfe_98 on 06-22-2004 09:23 PM

Windows General

Reinstalling XP Home - Corrupt Dell Installation CD

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