New install of WinXP -Help-

[Wolfsblood]

I'm helping my nephew get his new computer up and running and have run into a snag. Firefox, Zonealarm, AVG, and Steam won't install. Everytime we try to install them, we get various "file corrupt" messages. It allowed us to install Eudora via the web, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory from a dvd, but the other programs we need fail everytime.

 

Any ideas? Oh, we're using WinXP SP2.

 

System Specs: Asus A8N-SLI Premium, A64 3200+, WD 160Gig SATA, 1 gig Corsair ram.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. HE's chomping at the bit to pwn me in cs:s.

[pavid]

I think you may need to reinstall Win XP. It kinda sounds like the install didn't go right. Also, don't forget to download and install all the available updates before you do anything else. Some of those make changes to system files and perhaps that's what steam and the others are looking for.

[Wolfsblood]

Ok, that seems like a reasonable senario, since we had some trouble getting Windows to recognize some elements during the install.

 

Now, say I want to make sure my system stays the way it is now (installed files, settings etc) what's the best way to go about that? I have Windows set up on a seperate partition from my data/progam files. Do I just back up the registry, do the re-install, and copy the registry back onto the windows partition?

[Acid-Flux]

Is this installed from a CD? or Internet?

 

If it's from a CD. try the internet.

 

Download the base Steam program here

 

and then just install CS:S from there and not the cd

[J. Dunlavy]

Is this installed from a CD? or Internet?

 

If it's from a CD. try the internet.

 

Download the base Steam program here

 

and then just install CS:S from there and not the cd

It is not the media. He is having trouble installing multiple software. My diagnosis: You muffed up the motherboard chipset / controller driver installation somehow. You could probably keep the Windows installation, but hose your motherboard chipset and IDE controller drivers and reinstall them from scratch. You're SUPPOSED to install mobo drivers FIRST.

 

Otherwise, run Checkdisk. Check for bad sectors. Open "System Events" and view the logs right after. If you see various Win Logon errors, you might have a bad hard drive or cable.

[benjester]

given the problems you are having... here is what I would do.

 

wipe the system, and reinstall windows saving nothing.

install drivers for mobo, and chipset

download every patch needed for winxp (takes 4 reboots currently)

I would never break program files away from the default... I leave it with the system everytime. I've run into problems when trying to isolate them. It's okay to have a seperate data directory...

 

That's what I would do...

 

cheers

Ben

[Cujo]

could also be file corruption from a faulty cd drive or bad memory.

[Wolfsblood]

As of now, everything seems to be working fine. Steam installed, and last night he was downloading cs:s. The strange thing was that files that were from cd (even if they'd been downloaded from another computer and burned to a cd) would install fine. Most, but not all the files downloaded from the net on his comp wouldn't install. Eudora was the only one tha installed correctly from a download.

 

All of that would lead me to think Dunlavy might be on the right track about the mobo/ethernet drivers being goofed up during the install. I'm not at that computer at the moment, so cannot verify whether or not it's actually running the way it should be. (Although it did appear to be working properly last night when I left there)

 

I appreciate all the help you guys gave me. If I need to re-do the mobo/ethernet drivers, can I just do them as the system sits now, or would I need to do a system restore type deal?