Stuck In Loop Repairing XP SP1

[Rob]

I am attempting to repair my up to date Win XP with the original disk and key
that came with the machine (XP SP1) all the set up files loaded fine but when
the machine reboots and starts the set up (39 mins remaining etc etc) Almost
immediately I get the "An error has been encountered that prevents setup from
continuing. One of the components that windows needs to continue set up could
not be loaded" message.

This suggests to me that the disk is damaged as I cannot get it to go any
further even after cleaning the disk and so I am locked in a loop of the set
up process. Is there any way out to be able to boot into windows as was.

I can access the recovery console, is there a command there that can help
me?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I really don't want to reformat and
start again!

 

[Hexel]

As i understood you have disk C: with no anything important. Format it
quickly with some other utility, not XP boot disk, and retry setup again.

If this wont solve anything I suggest you have you memoru modules damaged.
Try to replace it or change slots the memory plugged in. Try to remove some
of modules.

As a last resort, kill partition C: and create it again. Anyway it will
destroy any viruses you may had

 

[Rob]

Thanks for the advice but I am hoping to find a solution that avoids
formatting the drive as nthing has been backed up!

 

[Brian]

I don't know if this is the problem, but did you have SP2 installed on your
computer?

If you are trying to install an SP1 disk on an SP2 computer, sooner or
later, you will get an error. I'm not sure if it is the one you are referring
to, but you will get this error.

You need to "slipstream" the disk. You will require another, blank disk.

The best guide is here:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1626&page=7

If you run into errors while slipstreaming, delete from the i386 folder these:

SP1.cat
SP1.cab
svcpack.inf
The entire svcpack folder
svcpack.dl_ (if present)

and optionally delete the *.sp1 files from the root directory, and all the
hotfixes in i386 listen in the svcpack.inf file.