Hi guys,
This will be long winded so if you are not into Windows home XP installation read no further.

I am building my machine. Over the last 9 monthsI have assembled an MSI K8T Neo ATX motherboard, 120GB hard drive, A thermaltake case, 1 GB of PC3200 memory, an Athlon 3200 processor a 480W power unit and a Plextor PX-712A DVD/CD Rewriter all brand new!. They are all connected up and the led lights twinkle like a Xmas tree, the machine hums like a ferrari, the temp gauges pump out information and I admire my handiwork....Then I decide to install the OS and everything goes downhill.
The OS disc I have is a 2002 Windows XP home edition with service pack 2 included. After formatting the drive the disc invites me to install it. After checking my hardware configuration the DLLs are number crunched and the status bar glides smoothly along until it reaches 60 - 63% when it freezes and I get the following message

The file system themeui.dll was not copied correctly. The file set up placed on your hard drive is not a valid windows XP system image. If you are installing from a CD there may be a problem with the windows XP CD.

The only problem is I know it is a genuine CD it has all the logos, holograms and squiggly bits, I have checked with both microsoft and the seller and am satisfied it is genuine. I was told there may be a problem with my CD drive installation but I have tried with another CD drive and the XP installation stops in the same place. I have checked the IDE cable, the connections, the bios set up (default) I even tried with another windows XP disc borrowed from a friend which he has installed on his computer. On mine it stops at 61% I am close to taking an axe to my 'beautiful machine'! Am I missing something obvious here?? Has anybody encountered this problem before ?


Cudham

" A system I plan to build soon too! A AMD 64bit 3200 CPU!"

You wrote " Xmas" Im not going to offend you I hope. Puting that is not a shortcut. In school X is not in no relation to C. It takes Christ out of Christmas. I just wanted to say that is that ok? No offense I know that some people just dont know.

I just installed Xp for the first time myself. I have used it for a while now but had to freshly install it again.

I want to ask have you tried the cd on another computer? Are you sure you got all the wires right?

As long as your sure on these facts.

It cant be wrong can it. I mean it goes 64%.........Let me think about this im sure someone will get back to you.

I think I have cracked it !!!I looked at the wording of the fault message

'The file set up placed on your hard drive is not a valid windows image'.

That got me thinking it was something to do with the way the installation was being written onto the disk. So I changed the hard drive jumpers from the factory settings to 32GB clip settings thus reducing the size of the disk available for installation. It worked a treat. I have yet to find out whether my 120GB disk is now a 32GB disk but hey I am just relieved to have got the OS installed. My 'Ferrari machine' can now purr it's way into Half Life 2 oblivion.

You never know when the situation will arise again so you may have a future opportunity to impress with your extensive IT knoweledge.

Thanks for watching over me and I am sorry if I offended with my Christmas mispelling. In London it really isn't a big deal (because we're a godless lot. lol) I must be more careful when swimming in international waters.

Have a good Christmas anyway


:thumbsup

I am pleased to hear that your computer is working like it is suppose to. If any other problems come up, feel free to post.

Me too! Glad to hear even though I gave little insight lol!