cannot install xp pro

[angrypanda]

i'm trying to upgrade a windows 98 machine to an xp pro machine. when i insert the cd to install, the setup.exe opens fine. i can also navigate through the menus, but when i try to do anything, i get an error. most things (such as the check system compatability, setup remote desktop connection, etc...) provide me an illegal operation error. however, when i try to do the actual install of xp, i always get this error: "The file E:\1386\WINNT32A.DLL could not be loaded or is corrupt. Setup cannot continue."

i have restarted several times and that's really about all i can think of to do. i did test the cd on another computer (which is already running xp pro) and i was able to do all tasks fine including entering the actual installation of xp.

this may be more of a problem with the win98 machine rather than xp, but i have no idea what to do. it's either make this work or buy a new computer, and i really would rather not spend the money (and time to transfer everything over..)

any help is appreciated.

[njovin]

Usually when setup is unable to copy files it is one of three problems

1) Your CD is dirty or scratched
2) Your CD drive is not good
3) Your hard drive has problems
4) The IDE cable to the CD and/or hard drive is bad

I have experienced all 4 of these problems doing installs. For some reason the xp installation seems to be very gentle. I would first check that the CD is in good condition. If it looks okay, I would try a different CD drive (you can get one for $15 if you don't already). If THAT doesn't fix it, you may need to explore the more expensive option of taking it to a shop to have the install done (usually costs $50 to have them install it).

I should note that the problems you have with the utilities provided on the CD (installing remote desktop, checking compatibility, etc.) are probably resulting from problems with your existing Windows 98 installation. However, when you are actually installing XP Pro, that is something different altogether, because it is not installing from within Windows 98, but rather from a DOS-like interface that setup uses when installing win xp.

[angrypanda]

Originally posted by njovin
Usually when setup is unable to copy files it is one of three problems

1) Your CD is dirty or scratched
2) Your CD drive is not good
3) Your hard drive has problems
4) The IDE cable to the CD and/or hard drive is bad

I have experienced all 4 of these problems doing installs. For some reason the xp installation seems to be very gentle. I would first check that the CD is in good condition. If it looks okay, I would try a different CD drive (you can get one for $15 if you don't already). If THAT doesn't fix it, you may need to explore the more expensive option of taking it to a shop to have the install done (usually costs $50 to have them install it).

I should note that the problems you have with the utilities provided on the CD (installing remote desktop, checking compatibility, etc.) are probably resulting from problems with your existing Windows 98 installation. However, when you are actually installing XP Pro, that is something different altogether, because it is not installing from within Windows 98, but rather from a DOS-like interface that setup uses when installing win xp.

thanks for your reply.

1.) i think the cd is alright since it performs on the computer that already has xp on it

2.) my cd drive is certainly not good! but since i can run games, other applications, everything else without a problem, i don't think it's that

3.) oh, boy, does she ever! everytime i try to install something or do ANYTHING, basically, i get all kinds of "Please insert the Win98 cd cause we can't find file.dll" errors and such. upon startup, she stops several times to notify me of missing windows files and the like. there are also bad unfixable sectors, i believe (although i've never noticed any corrupted files, any programs not working, any files being lost, etc).. i think the bad hard drive is probably the reason why xp is not installing. she's been limping along for years but i guess she finally fell.

4.) same as 2.)

thanks for your response

one follow up question: do you think any of this could be caused by a virus? a virus that may lock up system files in an attempt to make itself very hard to remove? i keep my system at peak performance (or at least i'd like to think so) but this other computer obviously is messed up out the wazoo, and i'm sure it's very likely there are several virii on there. you think that's a possibility?