install xp problem

[brian14]

Dont ya love it when you tell someone,"yea, thats easy, I'll do it for ya" and it turns into a nightmare? Loading a new OS--Noooo Problem! 6hrs later....
I will try to keep it short as possible. When loading XP pro on a Plll500 128MBR 16Gig HD, it gets to a point and asks for a file. And it reads that it needs to get them off the CD. The first one is CMPROPS.dll;cmprops.dl_ and is in the i386 folder.
The second one is IEXPLORE.exe (internet explorer) and is also in the i386 folder.
But when I try to get it to copy them off the CD it will not. Nor will it let me browse to the i386folder. So I cancel out of the window and finish the install.
Now of course there is no IE. I went and downloaded the DLL and found that it is already in the sys32 folder. Why it was asking for it I do not understand.
I cant find the whole program IE on the web. MS gives you a small exe that only starts the process, you have to finish by going online and downloading the rest of it, which I cant do with this PC (no internet connection).
I started by FDISKING the HD then formating it. Then doing the install. I even let XP format it, both quick and not so quick. Tried using the FAT and NTFS. But it always stops and will not copy those two files.
I know the install is not OK. Normally after installing xp, it gives you about ten different pictures to use as desktop backgrounds. This has two. I am guessing that it is because of IE not loading.
If anyone has anyideas please let me know.
Thanks in advance I appreciate it.
B

peace be with you

 

[kinetic_tw]

This is beside the point, but you're nuts for trying to load XP Pro on that machine. It needs at least 256mb of RAM if you want it to work in any normal fashion.

 

[BunnyStroker]

Sounds like a dirty or scratched CD maybe? I can't think of any reason else why files would be missing from the XP CD on a clean install

It's a legit CD, right?

<b>1.4 Ghz AMD T-Bird underclocked to 1 Ghz...just to be safe!</b>

 

[psykoikonov]

i second the dirty and/or scratched cd theory.

Psyko

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?showtopic=421" target="_new">Psyko's Puter</A>

 

[brian14]

let me address the issues as best I can.
First I agree the box doesnt support XP. It does however meet the reQ's. (128MBR). If it was mine--I wouldn't.
And I didnt. Because it would not let me.
Forget the scratched CD. To elimenate the CD problem, I tried with my XP CD (legal one). So that is 2 XP CD's that did the same thing. Same files. That would be one hell of a coincidence.
Here is where you huys will say "well,,, what the..."
I left a couple things out so as not to muddle the issue.
One is it had a SCSI card that was not connected to anything. NO ribbon. So it wasnt doing anything. Of course the OS saw it. So I removed it,no change in the setup though. I really dont think that is//was the problem.
Also,There are two HD's. Don't ask, cause I dont know. There is no slave. (it was not set up in the BIOS.)
I disconnected the (what would be slave) one HD (ribbon and power).
In the mean time I loaded Win. ME and it works fine. I just wanted to see if it would work and it does.
I really dont think that was the problem either. I am at a loss. And I have already spent way to much time on a favor.
But I am of the curious nature. And a bit obsessive when it comes to this stuff. I think this one will have no answer though. The same 2 files will not load on setup, using different CD's...
I apologise for leaving that extra info out of the original post. I have learned that if you mention something in a post, people tend to focus on it and will not look else where for the problem.
thanks again. If I ever find out I will pass it along.

peace be with you

 

[riser]

use a program called "GWSCAN" on the hard drive, it may take some time to format by writing all zeros back to the drive. It also has a system check to find bad or damaged clusters. I load computers all the time and when this happens, i use the program and it loads fine afterwards. The hard drive might have a screwy cluster in it that can be written to, but not read (odd yeah, but thats the best I can figure out when things like this happen.)
After you run that, try the install and it will probably work fine.

ftp://ftp.gateway.com/pub/hardware_support/drivers/win3.x_and_dos/mass_storage/hard_drives/

download Scan.exe. This program is nice.

Riser

 

[morganwill]

Software from "Gateway" on self built Units???
That is scary!!!
In my cpu experience Gateways have always been the worst..
However, I too need to fix a couple of HDDs that are behaving badly.
Please Advise.

 

[samcheetah]

hey brian did u try using another cd drive. i know what u said that such a big coincidence cannot happen but trust me when things go wrong such coincidences do happen. maybe the drive has a bad lens. try another drive.

and maybe this will annoy u but do try another CD. try things out and maybe u will be lucky.

from my experience when i get into troubles like these i see problems that defy logic so plz try another CD and/or another drive

 

[blah]

don't tell me you got that CD from .net

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

 

[TKS]

Ok...This should work...

Make a bootdisk, windows 98SE OEM, from <A HREF="http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm" target="_new">bootdisk.com</A>. Next, format the Hard disk as a FAT32. I know that this isn't recommended but it will work...

Ok...so you have a disk with FAT32 and nothing else on it right? Ok, so use the boot disk...get a prompt. Now the difference between FAT32 and NTFS (one of the differences) is that you can EXECUTE files on FAT32 and cannot on NTFS (unless you use NTFS DOS professional or another similar program). So...put the XP CD in and copy the i386 directory straight accross onto the hard drive with something like this:

copy d:\I386 c:\I386

Tons of text will scroll by as it copies each file to your hard drive. Allow it to finish...then you will be able to enter the hard drives' I386 directory and execute (by typing out the name) the file "WINNT32.EXE" Now, this installation will be very slow and will probably take all night long...but it will get it done. The reason it is so slow is because most hard drives and motherboards do not have something called SmartDrive automatically installed on them (especially older ones). Therefore, it takes longer for Windows to install. Now i've found a way around this as well. I went out and picked up smartdrive and put it onto my windows98SE bootdisk as well...then I execute it before I execute the winnt32.exe. You can pick up a copy of smartdrive and find out about it from <A HREF="http://www.broomeman.com/support/smartdrv.html" target="_new">here</A>. I recommend using smartdrive as it will take far less time to install XP.

Ok, so lets say you've done all this...your still left with a hard drive that has FAT32 right? Use your favorite partitioning software (I use partition magic 8) and convert it back into NTFS after the install is complete. You are now all set up. You log onto your fresh install of XP...I delete the I386 directory when I'm done since there is a lot of crap in there. Hopefully this works for you. To break it down into steps:

1. Format into FAT32
2. Make bootdisk Windows 98SE OEM with smartdrive
3. Boot up on bootdisk, copy I386 to disk
4. Execture smartdrv.exe
5. after copy, go into your hard disk I386 directory and execute Winnt32.exe
6. Allow installation...it will ask if you want to reformat into NTFS...say "NO" and then it will tell you that it needs to reboot to continue...allow it to do so, but remember to EJECT the bootdisk before it does so...otherwise you'll be sitting there going "what the hell is next?"
7. After reboot, it will finish its install. Then you can erase the hard drive I386 directory and use your favorite partitioning/disk management software to convert into NTFS

Simple eh? Well, once you do it, you never forget it. I've done this probably 5 different times for people with similar problems to yours. Worked every time. Hope this helps you. Let us know how it turns out. 😛


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<b>It is always brave to say what everyone thinks. </b> <i>Georges Duhamel</i>

TKS

 

[brian14]

thank you TKS.
I never did find out what the rouble was. I did find one other person who had the same problem.
To make it short, I eneded up putting Win ME on it and the guy was happy. End of story except that for why it would not load those 2 files????
I did save your install directions for future reference though. It looks like it would have worked. And if a problem comes up once, it will most likly come again.

THANKS to everyone one who took the time to help.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
B14

peace be with you

 

[catchuppi_th]

The following generic procedure will be helpful when the issue of missing files are observed:

> Once the popup appears about the missing file, Click "OK" -> "Browse" -> Select the CD drive (which contains the XP Image) from the pop-down menu which says "Look in". Then type "*.*" without quotes in the text-field "File Name"

> Browse through either "AMD64" if 64bit OS / "i386" folder and search for the specific file name and proceed.

This will fix the issue.

The installation may ask for missing file every other time, use the above procedure to find the missing file and continue the installation.

Hope this will help u guys out there looking for a quick soln

 

[Zirox]

Hi, i got almost the same problem at the moment, that's why i found this post. Last week my 3 years old pc had a blue screen but did not reboot after, i have tried different things to make it boot but it did not so i have decided to format and reinstall.
I have tried to install win xp with the 2 originals cd i own then tried with an burned cd of an iso i got online of winxp with sp3. All 3 keep getting me thoses errors at the end of the installation (cmprops.dll and iexplorer.exe) and i tried my best to correct the situation after the install was over but i can get anywhere...i can't repair the install, i can't add the .dll and iexplorer can't finish installing, other parts of windows seems to be missing too since i can't get my integrated lan card to work unless i manually turn on fews windows services each time i reboot.. I am still into this and reading the whole web trying to find a clue, i have little experience in pc management so i would gladly take any help.