[Archived] Help Formatting Drive And Installing Xp

[Hasta]

To cut a long story short I have a mac which I use 95% of the time and a PC which I know very little about and only use to access certain websites. The PC has stopped working (Hard Drive went down and wouldnt re-format) and I'm struggling to get it running.

I've put a new drive in and have obtiained 2 copies of XP (I bought the PC off ebay so never got a disk with it). When I install, the drive formats OK but during installation it keeps saying cannont install file "example.dll" as it cant be found on the disk. Either press enter to try again or Esc to skip. If you skip the file it starts doing it more and more frequently with different files. It always does it on the same files (altho the setup menu is slightly different on the other disk and the filenames it cant find are different)

One XP disk is from a new PC (Fujutsu Siemens) and the disk is just on a CDR. Is the problem likely to be that the disks don't work on my custom built PC and that I need a generic XP installation disk?

It's frustrating me as I've fractured my ankle, I'm off work all day, I cant get down to todays game and can now no longer play poker!

[Biddy]

It could well be the CD/DVD drive itself. Drives only have a certain life to them and you tend to find that the first signs of trouble are that they start failing to read copied CD's properly. It's either that or both copies are rubbish.

The Fuji disk should work, the only differences between bundled disks and originals are that they will have add the relevant drivers and some customisations (like the "My Computer" properties). I did the same with a Dell copy and all went fine. You just have to install the correct drivers for your hardware afterwards.

[Hasta]

The Fuji disk is an original. However I'll try and get someone to get hold of a new one for me (seeing as I cant move!)