XP Install Stuck in Infinite Loop

[Bob]

I tried to upgrade from W2K to XP but ran into problems.
So, I decided to just do an entire new install. But I
ran out of room. I made room by blowing away lots of
stuff (mostly mp3s) but I also tossed winnt (gulp). I
know. I shouldn't be allowed to touch these things...

Anyway, I'm now in an infinite loop and I don't know how
to get out of it. (btw, I'm dumped everything I own onto
a USB drive, so I'm not averse to blowing the whole thing
up and starting from scratch.)

Here's the message:

Fatal Error:
Setup was unable to retrieve the Product Id because of
the following error: RegOpenKeyEx(System\Setup\Pid)
returned error 2 (2).

***

Fatal Error:
Setup was unable to retrieve the Product Identification
of the system you are installing. The Windows XP media
may be damaged.

Please contact Product Support.

***

Fatal Error:
One of the components that Windows needs to continue
setup could not be installed.

The operation was canceled by the user.

----

The media's fine. I'm working under a corporate license
and I'm working on another computer upon which I've just
loaded XP. On this one, I swapped out HDDs and was
working with a blank drive.

So, here I am. Any suggestions besides a bazooka?

The box with the install problem is a Tecra 8100 running
256M RAM on a Toshiba 12GB HDD. I think the clock speed
is around 600 Mhz.

Thanks

 

[Guest]

Boot from xp cd,(you may need to adjust to this in the BIOS),then
select,recovery,
press enter key for password,then typeiskPart In DiskPart delete the
partition(s),
create one,then press Esc key,back in cmd,type:FORMAT C: /FS:ntfs When its
thru type:EXIT XP should install auto.

 

[Guest]

thanks so much. i can't tell you how appreciative i am.

bob