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From: Chris Crawford Chris on 25 Feb 2010 15:22
I have been running XP Home Edition since 2002 without major problems until
recently, when the computer went into an endless cycle of crash, reboot,
scandisk, discard some file fragments, crash ....

First, I tried repair; then, over-writing Windows; next, reformatting; and
finally, repartitioning. At one point, I think I had a good install, but then
I made what appears to be a blunder--I installed SP2, and then SP3. At which
point, I found myself back to the endless cycle of crash, reboot, scandisk.

The problem appears to be a corrupted install CD. When copying files from CD
to drive C:, a number of files do not copy. Retry rarely works. The number of
such files is about two dozen now and seems to be increasing. In general, the
subset of files is different each time, with little overlap. Most of the
errors occur about one-third trough and near the end of the copy list. I have
tried three different CD drives, with similar results.

I have concluded it must be the install CD. It has sat in its folder since
it was used seven years ago. It looks unscratched and clean. I have cleaned
it two more times, just to be sure. No improvement.

While scanning this forum, I found a post from Shenan Stanley (MS-MVP):
"You can download Service Pack 3 for Windows XP and integrate (sometimes
called slipstream) SP3 into the media and burn a new CD (for either your
Windows XP Professional or Home Edition.)"

I tried something like this, but the BIOS said my new disk is not a boot
disk. I tried swapping disks after booting, but that did not work either.

I would like to try the idea from Shenan Stanley but I need very precise and
detailed instructions. I have no idea how to integrate or slipstream SP3 into
the install files. I do not know how to create a boot CD.

A second problem is the format of the CD. All the Microsoft CDs and the CDs
I created on my now-dead computer using Windows XP are formated as CDFS.
However, CDs formated on my other computer running XP Pro are formated as
CDUDFRW or "Drag-to-Disc-RW". It is a Dell desktop with pre-loaded software
but no software disks. The Windows CD functions seem to have been taken over
by "Roxio Easy CD and DVD Creator". [I think it's like Nero, which I used
with Windows 98.] There does not appear to be a way to disable it or replace
it with Windows CD functionality. Roxio claims the CDUDFRW format can be read
by any CD drive. I have no way to test this.

Any insights on the second problem would be appreciated; or should I take
this to a Dell forum?

Thanks in advance for your help.

From: Peter Foldes on 25 Feb 2010 18:25
http://apcmag.com/how_to_create_a_bootable_xp_sp3_cd.htm?page=1

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"Chris Crawford" <Chris Crawford(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:22FCADEE-6E82-40DB-8089-EA5B87516885(a)microsoft.com...
>I have been running XP Home Edition since 2002 without major problems until
> recently, when the computer went into an endless cycle of crash, reboot,
> scandisk, discard some file fragments, crash ....
>
> First, I tried repair; then, over-writing Windows; next, reformatting; and
> finally, repartitioning. At one point, I think I had a good install, but then
> I made what appears to be a blunder--I installed SP2, and then SP3. At which
> point, I found myself back to the endless cycle of crash, reboot, scandisk.
>
> The problem appears to be a corrupted install CD. When copying files from CD
> to drive C:, a number of files do not copy. Retry rarely works. The number of
> such files is about two dozen now and seems to be increasing. In general, the
> subset of files is different each time, with little overlap. Most of the
> errors occur about one-third trough and near the end of the copy list. I have
> tried three different CD drives, with similar results.
>
> I have concluded it must be the install CD. It has sat in its folder since
> it was used seven years ago. It looks unscratched and clean. I have cleaned
> it two more times, just to be sure. No improvement.
>
> While scanning this forum, I found a post from Shenan Stanley (MS-MVP):
> "You can download Service Pack 3 for Windows XP and integrate (sometimes
> called slipstream) SP3 into the media and burn a new CD (for either your
> Windows XP Professional or Home Edition.)"
>
> I tried something like this, but the BIOS said my new disk is not a boot
> disk. I tried swapping disks after booting, but that did not work either.
>
> I would like to try the idea from Shenan Stanley but I need very precise and
> detailed instructions. I have no idea how to integrate or slipstream SP3 into
> the install files. I do not know how to create a boot CD.
>
> A second problem is the format of the CD. All the Microsoft CDs and the CDs
> I created on my now-dead computer using Windows XP are formated as CDFS.
> However, CDs formated on my other computer running XP Pro are formated as
> CDUDFRW or "Drag-to-Disc-RW". It is a Dell desktop with pre-loaded software
> but no software disks. The Windows CD functions seem to have been taken over
> by "Roxio Easy CD and DVD Creator". [I think it's like Nero, which I used
> with Windows 98.] There does not appear to be a way to disable it or replace
> it with Windows CD functionality. Roxio claims the CDUDFRW format can be read
> by any CD drive. I have no way to test this.
>
> Any insights on the second problem would be appreciated; or should I take
> this to a Dell forum?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help.
>

From: Andy on 25 Feb 2010 20:13
Check the motherboard system memory using Memtest86+
<http://www.memtest.org/>.

On Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:22:05 -0800, Chris Crawford <Chris
Crawford(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I have been running XP Home Edition since 2002 without major problems until
>recently, when the computer went into an endless cycle of crash, reboot,
>scandisk, discard some file fragments, crash ....
>
>First, I tried repair; then, over-writing Windows; next, reformatting; and
>finally, repartitioning. At one point, I think I had a good install, but then
>I made what appears to be a blunder--I installed SP2, and then SP3. At which
>point, I found myself back to the endless cycle of crash, reboot, scandisk.
>
>The problem appears to be a corrupted install CD. When copying files from CD
>to drive C:, a number of files do not copy. Retry rarely works. The number of
>such files is about two dozen now and seems to be increasing. In general, the
>subset of files is different each time, with little overlap. Most of the
>errors occur about one-third trough and near the end of the copy list. I have
>tried three different CD drives, with similar results.
>
>I have concluded it must be the install CD. It has sat in its folder since
>it was used seven years ago. It looks unscratched and clean. I have cleaned
>it two more times, just to be sure. No improvement.
>
>While scanning this forum, I found a post from Shenan Stanley (MS-MVP):
>"You can download Service Pack 3 for Windows XP and integrate (sometimes
>called slipstream) SP3 into the media and burn a new CD (for either your
>Windows XP Professional or Home Edition.)"
>
>I tried something like this, but the BIOS said my new disk is not a boot
>disk. I tried swapping disks after booting, but that did not work either.
>
>I would like to try the idea from Shenan Stanley but I need very precise and
>detailed instructions. I have no idea how to integrate or slipstream SP3 into
>the install files. I do not know how to create a boot CD.
>
>A second problem is the format of the CD. All the Microsoft CDs and the CDs
>I created on my now-dead computer using Windows XP are formated as CDFS.
>However, CDs formated on my other computer running XP Pro are formated as
>CDUDFRW or "Drag-to-Disc-RW". It is a Dell desktop with pre-loaded software
>but no software disks. The Windows CD functions seem to have been taken over
>by "Roxio Easy CD and DVD Creator". [I think it's like Nero, which I used
>with Windows 98.] There does not appear to be a way to disable it or replace
>it with Windows CD functionality. Roxio claims the CDUDFRW format can be read
>by any CD drive. I have no way to test this.
>
>Any insights on the second problem would be appreciated; or should I take
>this to a Dell forum?
>
>Thanks in advance for your help.
From: peter on 25 Feb 2010 22:30
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/Autostreamer.shtml

I found Autostreamer to be one of the easiest slipstreaming tools to use
The readme file covers all the details and the onscreen instructions are easy.
You end up with an .iso file which you then burn to a CD/DVD
A valid ISO image is an uncompressed collection of various files merged into one
single resulting file, according to definite and standard formatting. The most
important feature of an ISO image is that it can be easily rendered or burned to
a DVD or CD by using media authoring or disc burning software.

peter

--
If you find a posting or message from me offensive,inappropriate
or disruptive,please ignore it.
If you dont know how to ignore a posting complain
to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate :-)

"Chris Crawford" <Chris Crawford(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:22FCADEE-6E82-40DB-8089-EA5B87516885(a)microsoft.com...
> I have been running XP Home Edition since 2002 without major problems until
> recently, when the computer went into an endless cycle of crash, reboot,
> scandisk, discard some file fragments, crash ....
>
> First, I tried repair; then, over-writing Windows; next, reformatting; and
> finally, repartitioning. At one point, I think I had a good install, but then
> I made what appears to be a blunder--I installed SP2, and then SP3. At which
> point, I found myself back to the endless cycle of crash, reboot, scandisk.
>
> The problem appears to be a corrupted install CD. When copying files from CD
> to drive C:, a number of files do not copy. Retry rarely works. The number of
> such files is about two dozen now and seems to be increasing. In general, the
> subset of files is different each time, with little overlap. Most of the
> errors occur about one-third trough and near the end of the copy list. I have
> tried three different CD drives, with similar results.
>
> I have concluded it must be the install CD. It has sat in its folder since
> it was used seven years ago. It looks unscratched and clean. I have cleaned
> it two more times, just to be sure. No improvement.
>
> While scanning this forum, I found a post from Shenan Stanley (MS-MVP):
> "You can download Service Pack 3 for Windows XP and integrate (sometimes
> called slipstream) SP3 into the media and burn a new CD (for either your
> Windows XP Professional or Home Edition.)"
>
> I tried something like this, but the BIOS said my new disk is not a boot
> disk. I tried swapping disks after booting, but that did not work either.
>
> I would like to try the idea from Shenan Stanley but I need very precise and
> detailed instructions. I have no idea how to integrate or slipstream SP3 into
> the install files. I do not know how to create a boot CD.
>
> A second problem is the format of the CD. All the Microsoft CDs and the CDs
> I created on my now-dead computer using Windows XP are formated as CDFS.
> However, CDs formated on my other computer running XP Pro are formated as
> CDUDFRW or "Drag-to-Disc-RW". It is a Dell desktop with pre-loaded software
> but no software disks. The Windows CD functions seem to have been taken over
> by "Roxio Easy CD and DVD Creator". [I think it's like Nero, which I used
> with Windows 98.] There does not appear to be a way to disable it or replace
> it with Windows CD functionality. Roxio claims the CDUDFRW format can be read
> by any CD drive. I have no way to test this.
>
> Any insights on the second problem would be appreciated; or should I take
> this to a Dell forum?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help.
>
From: Chris Crawford on 27 Feb 2010 18:39
Andy, you're a genius!!

Actually, I had begun to think it was a hardware problem and not the
software CD.

Memtest86 quickly showed I had one good RAM board and one bad RAM board.
77,000+ errors on the first pass.

It was getting to be time for a new computer anyway.

Thanks again. This thing was driving me nuts.
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