Computer Emergency

[Buddha the DM]

In the middle of trying to restore/reformat my computer I get a message that says there is a corrupt file on my windows installation CD. Now as this was my only copy of the windows cd i'm kinda screwed now. If anyone has any suggests please put the here. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mark]

Can you add the file name here?

 

[Buddha the DM]

i think it was ntfs.sys (not sure precisely).. if that I am right I'm fairly well screwed.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

ntfs is the file format windows xp uses.

you can keep your win 98 file format and be fine.

Click Ignore or Continue without file (i forget which option you get) and installation will continue.

You MIGHT have some problems later with XP in genearl because of this but the installation SHOULD finish and work fine without it.

After thats done, go to www.microsoft.com find some email or contact info for windows. If you mail them your cd, they'll replace it free or something.

 

[Piratecat]

I'll zoom this over to the correct forum. I hope people can help you!

And remember, don't panic and don't do anything abrupt (like turning off the PC mid-format.)

 

[BrooklynKnight]

er, and for the record, i mean snail mail the cd, not EMAIL the cd. heh.

 

[Buddha the DM]

Arthur: I tried that and it didn't work.

Piratecat: I won't. I may be crazy but I'm not stupid.

 

[BSF]

Blech - You are going to have a difficult time with this at this point. I hate to say it, but I have seen something similar once. It actually turned out to be the CD drive. The CD would read fine some of the time and then it would arbitrarily crash as it mis-read a file. I ended up replacing the drive and everything was fine afterward.

Not that you have such an option partway through an OS upgrade.

Still, check the CD and be sure it doesn't need cleaning. If you have a drive cleaner, you might try that too.

I wish I could point you to better news, but if ArthurQ's advice didn't work ...

 

[Camarath]

If you don't mind I have a few question.

Are you repairing your window installation or are you reformating your hard drive and reinstalling windows?
At what stage in the process did you recieve this error message?
Have you aborted and retried and did the problem reoccure?
What windows opratating system do you use?

 

[BrooklynKnight]

heh, gotat love tech support people.

Well if that didnt work, to test if its the cddrive and not the cd, borrow a windows cd from a friend. Around here, everyone has one, they are like candies.

If you get the SAME problem then you know its your drive.

(then again, if you're using a burned copy, it could simply be some skewed copy protection that bungled the file when it was being burned.)

Anywho, since my first bit of advice didnt work. If nothing else someone else here works, simply take it to the nearest pc shop. for 25$ service fee they should fix you right up (unless you need to replace any hardware)