Problems with installing XP

[Guest]

I started installing XP on a fresh hard drive recently and was able to get
through partitioning and all that, up to the point where it started copying
files. It worked fine for a bit, but eventually it became clear that all the
files starting with W weren't working at all. I persisted for awhile,
skipping the problem files, until I gave up at around 61%. I took the disc
out and discovered it was scratched around the outside, which explains why
the files at the end of the alphabet weren't working.

The problem is that, when I went to install again with a clean disc, and
tried to boot from the CD, Windows thinks that it's already installed and
tries to run itself. This inevitably leads to a blue screen with
SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED or whatever. Whatever. What's crazy is that
I can't seem to override this and get it to reinstall. It just goes directly
into loading up files and then trying to run. Is there anything I can do to
get it to abort that and let me install it again?

I don't have a floppy drive so the Windows CD is my only way to boot.

Thanks!

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please see if the following helps:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search