Setup unable to load file error

[Brandon Olson]

Helo everyone-

I am performing a clean install of Vista Business on my pc. I can partition
and format the drives without problem, however, when setup begins copying
files to the HDD to start the setup process, copying fails due to an error
that states "Setup is unable to load the file xxx" Setup advises me to
check my media (it is brand new, retail). I can either skip the file or
quit setup all together. I have seen numerous posts on this issue on the
net (mostly suggesting that I swap out the DVD drive for a slower speed
which I also have tried), but nothing really seems to fit my set of
circumstances. Does anyone have any ideas?


Thanks in advance for any assistancce!!

 

[BigJim]

how much room do you have on the hard drive you are trying to install to?

 

[Brandon Olson]

Thanks for your response!

The HDD is a brand new Seagate 300GB UltraATA/100 Drive. The setup seems to
fail at the same place (around 39%-43%). I am still having a ton of
problems with this. I have tried this with my Win2000Pro, and XP Pro cds as
well and get the same result. Just a thought, would it be possible to boot
to a Win98 floppy, and copy the CD to my new hard drive and run setup from
the hard drive? I am also wondering if it has something to do with my MB or
IDE controller on the MB?

Thanks again for the help!!

 

[Malke]

Thanks for your response!

The HDD is a brand new Seagate 300GB UltraATA/100 Drive. The setup seems to
fail at the same place (around 39%-43%). I am still having a ton of
problems with this. I have tried this with my Win2000Pro, and XP Pro cds as
well and get the same result. Just a thought, would it be possible to boot
to a Win98 floppy, and copy the CD to my new hard drive and run setup from
the hard drive? I am also wondering if it has something to do with my MB or
IDE controller on the MB?

Since installation fails with different operating systems, you know this
is a hardware issue. You also know this is not because of a bad install
disk since you've tried different install disks.

You said you had already swapped out the cd/dvd drive for a
known-working one and that didn't work. This leaves the possibilities of
bad hard drive, bad RAM, bad motherboard. I would definitely start with
the hard drive. It doesn't matter that the hard drive is brand-new.
Drives can fail out of the box and in fact if hardware is going to fail
it will usually do so pretty quickly or go for years.

If the hard drive didn't come with SeaTools, download them from Seagate.
You will create a bootable cd. Boot with this and do a thorough test of
the hard drive. If it fails any physical tests, RMA it.

If the hard drive passes all physical tests, move on to testing the RAM
with Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org. You do basically the same thing
with the Memtest file - create a bootable cd (with third-party burning
software) and boot with it. Let the test run for an extended time
(unless you get errors right away). If any of the RAM tests fail,
replace the RAM.

If the RAM and hard drive pass all tests, see if your motherboard is at
issue (usually it isn't) by attaching a known-working hard drive and see
if you can install an operating system to it.


Malke

 

[Guest]

I would have find someone to partition the 300gb HD for you in multiple parts
and then try installing on the main partition

 

[BigJim]

you can run a Seagate diagnostics on the drive, you download it from
Seagate.
It could be a bad drive, doesn't happen often but it happens.

 

[Chad Harris]

Hi Brandon--

1) Is that your exact error message?
2) I know this is probably superfluous but clean that DVD real well just in
case.

3) This MSKB may help you--I didn't find that exact error message and I'm
aware of some upgrade scenarios and KBs that go to setup but you are using a
full edition of Vista Biz:

You cannot select or format a hard disk partition when you try to install
Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927520/en-us

CH