How to copy W2K CD onto fresh HD

[a]

OK, the background first:

Windows crashed and couldn't repair it. So now I'm trying to do a
fresh install from CD. However, during the first phase of the
installation (blue screen), setup complains about files not being
correctly copied from CD. I press retry and it seems to work fine.
Then, in the next phase (after windows boots from HD), after
localization and admin setup, when it starts copying files and
configuring (COM+... etc) it crashes (reboots). I haven't been able to
go past that phase, it perpetually reboots at that point.

I have tried 3 different CD units, 3 different CD's (2 of them
original W2K CD's, one a burned backup copy) but with the same
results. I checked the CD drives and the CD's on another computer and
they seemd to be fine. I also tried a different IDE cable, no joy.

Now, my question:

Well, two questions. 1: Any ideas on what the problem might be?

Is there a way I can boot into command prompt, copy the installation
CD-ROM contents on to the hard disk and install from the hard disk?

Thanks for any help. I need to get this machine up and running before
monday if possible.

PS. Specs: P4 2.8 / 1GB RAM / Seagate 120GB 7200 HD / LG DVD-CD /
FX5900 / ASUS P4P800 / Antec 380W PS...

PPS. I had installed W2K from CD on this system a few months ago
without any problems.

 

[Alias]

Did you format the hard disk before installing W2K?

Alias

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Problems copying files or corrupted files during installation are
most often caused by defective or sub-standard hardware; in order of
likelihood, either RAM, the hard drive, or the motherboard. On much
less frequent occasions, a bad CD or defective CD drive can also cause
this.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[a]

Did you format the hard disk before installing W2K?

I don't think one can proceed to install w/o formatting but FWIW,
it's formatted as NTFS.

 

[George Hester]

Just to add to what Bruce said. Sometimes the CD-ROM can be dirty. Tty wiping the CD-ROM with a dry cloth. It sounds a lot though like the CD-Player may be on its way out.

As for copying the CD-ROM to the harddrive. In your case it won't matter. The files are not being read correctly. There is a program called BlindWrite which can do what you want. But that works in a installed operating system with an ASPI layer installed-not native to Windows 2000.

 

[Vance Green]

I don't think one can proceed to install w/o formatting but FWIW,
it's formatted as NTFS.

There's one item that (seems) to be common to
all your problems-your HD.

Maybe your HD is going south, which led you to the
"crashed and couldn't repair it" scenario, and which now
won't allow a reinstall.

Try a different HD. They're cheap-

 

[a]

Greetings --

Problems copying files or corrupted files during installation are
most often caused by defective or sub-standard hardware; in order of
likelihood, either RAM, the hard drive, or the motherboard. On much
less frequent occasions, a bad CD or defective CD drive can also cause
this.

Thanks. After virtually switching everything else in and out, I have
concluded it's probably the MoBo. I will have to take it in on Monday.
Thanks for all the responses.

 

[Dan Seur]

You can, before Monday:
- get a W98 boot diskette image from www.bootdisk.com.
- boot your machine with it to the W98 DOS prompt, & setup HDD
partitions as you wish, all FAT32.
- copy the CD to a partition, preferably not the one you'll install W2k
on. Copy the whole thing (except for non-Intel code directories) if
space permits; copy at least the \i386 and all subdirs therein if space
constrained.
- from the DOS prompt start the W2k install by running \i386\winnt.exe
with your choice of parameters if any. I'm not sure whether with the W98
boot diskette you can run the winnt32.exe 32-bit installer; doesn't
matter much since end results are identical.
- when W2k is up and running, you can convert partition format(s) to NTFS.