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General discussion

Installation CD not read

Jan 18, 2005 1:15AM PST

Well here we go again! Built my first computer. Couldn't load XP; discovered HD and mobo were faulty. Sent both back to factory and now, after breathlessly waiting for 2 or 3 weeks, have them installed. Started over with setting clock, etc. Setup phase went fine. Started XP install. Loaded all files and got to point where it asks for a CD of valid Windows version. I slip in my W98SE installation CD, it spends perhaps a minute studying it and then announces that it can't read the CD and/or it's not valid. Tried again with same result. It now also says that "BIOS is not installed" during POST. This is one of the messages I was getting originally, before I returned the mobo & HDD. Here are the stats: ASUS K8V, Athlon 64 3000, Seagate 120GB SATA, Ultra 512MB (one stick), MadDog DVD/CD burner, and 450W pwr supply. Does anything here jump out at you? Could it be a bad memory stick? Don't have one to swap. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm really becoming frustrated. Working on the world's largest radar was a piece of cake compared to this!

Discussion is locked

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Tell about that 98 CD.
Jan 18, 2005 1:24AM PST

Some try to use the XP Upgrade and some 98 CD that came with some other machine. This may or may not work.

Do you have a "Microsoft" supplied Windows 98 CD?

Bob

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re: That 98 CD
Jan 18, 2005 2:37AM PST

As a matter of fact, the CD came with my current Gateway computer. However, everything on it says Microsoft. Nothing on the label about it being made for any 2nd party.

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That's an OEM CD. May or may not work...
Jan 18, 2005 2:53AM PST

"What about Upgrade CDs?

For those folks that purchased Windows XP upgrade CDs or have OEM CDs?yes, you can install a clean copy of Windows XP using them. Follow the instructions that I've outlined in this column. The setup program will ask you to provide the qualifying product's CD. After it verifies that you have the CD of the product you're upgrading, the process continues normally. If you're stuck with the OEM's recovery CD or don't have a CD that qualifies, you must install the recovery CD first, and then upgrade to Windows XP."
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/honeycutt_02october07.mspx and other places.

Bob

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RE: OEM CD
Jan 18, 2005 11:54AM PST

Thanks Bob. If I understand the Windows help thingy correctly, I have to first install Win98 (I have a full set of CDs that came with the Gateway) and then upgrade to XP? The 98 CD that I've been inserting when prompted, is labeled Installation CD. If I install 98, will it be confused by the XP files that have already loaded? The whole thing is leaving a bad taste in my mouth, vis-a-vis building from scratch. Thanks for your help.

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Update: Bad WinXP CD
Feb 2, 2005 10:01PM PST

First I want to thank all you guys who helped me with this. I finally tired of banging my head against the wall and getting nothing useful to show for it ---- took the machine to the local shop. They found that the XP CD was bad. How often does that happen?

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A CD tester.
Feb 2, 2005 10:21PM PST
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/ has some tools worthy of note. If I suspect the CD to be bad I use xcopy to read the CD as a test.

Bob
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re: CD Tester
Feb 7, 2005 10:09PM PST

Thanks for the tip, Bob, I'll give it a try.

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Another Possibilty
Feb 8, 2005 1:59AM PST

Glad it see your issue is solved.... but their is another possibilty.

On some SATA MBs' the serial channel has to be enabled in BIOS. Then on the save settings reboot you have to enter the BIOS again to set drive as the first or second boot device.

Hopefully the shop did not sell you another disk.....

Bill
.

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sounds stupid but...
Feb 8, 2005 6:03AM PST

when I got this same error all I did was run one of those cheapo cleaner discs and it was fine. Try it.