XP Setup problem - file is 'not a valid system image'

Question

I have a Dell Insipiron 5100 2.4 P4 with a CDburner/DVD, 30gb hd, 1gb RAM I am trying to perform a clean install of Win XP Home on my notebook by using the installation CD that came with it.  The first couple of times I did not correctly delete the old partition on my hard drive, so I ended up installing multiple copies of XP Home.  These multiple versions worked (more or less) and I entered my XP product key but did not finalize registration by accessing Microsoft's website.  I finally realized that I had to delete all the old partitions on my drive, format my drive, and install xp on a brand new partition.  When I did this it removed all prior multiple versions of XP.  However, I was not prompted to enter the product key.  The new install of XP worked fairly well, although there were a few strange problems, such as the computer failing to shut down when I told it to.  One day I was downloading some new ISP software, when, after stopping the download midway, my computer froze.  I decided to again do a clean install of XP.  However, after the XP setup deleted my old partition, made a new one, and formatted it, it had a major problem.  After the 20 minute NTFS format procedure, XP Setup would start to copy files to the hard drive.  Usually at around 7% through, it would report 'The file Setup placed on your hard drive is not a valid Windows XP image.'  (Most often these files were .dll files, logonui.exe, or sysprep.exe, although they always varied.)  I was given the option to skip, or try again.  If I skipped, it told me that Windows might not work correctly.  I would then continue, skipping 5-10 problematic files along the way.  When I got to the GUI portion of Setup, the program would stop and tell me 'error:  sxs.dll:  syntax error in manifest or policy file 'D:\I386\asms\6000\etc etc etc.''  Then I would be forced to quit Setup.  On the other hand, if I were to force Setup to 'try again' and copy the file with the 'bad system image' (instead of skipping), I could do so, by holding down the Enter key while it flashed the error message multiple times until it moved on to the next file.  Shortly thereafter the computer would crash, with the blue error screen appearing and the error message 'MEMORY MANAGEMENT'. I have tried 2 other XP install disks with the exact same problem.  I'm not sure what to do.  CHKDSK shows that my hard drive is ok, but if I CHKDSK any disc in my CD drive it says there are unrecoverable errors. Thanks for any help. Joe N., North Hollywood CA   by the way, I wanted to do this clean install because I have a bunch of new music software and hardware that I want to run as fast possible.

mattcowger · Answer

Sounds like you might have a bad drive?

Windows General

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