Going to try to lay out what I have done so far and see if anyone may be able to help. Current problem is rendering this computer unusable haha,  So hopefully with a bit of help from you I can get it figured out.


I have a computer given to me by a friend thats about 3-4 years old, Was custom built from a kit from what I understand, But I do not know ALL of its specifications.
3.00 ghz and it has a 240 Gigabyte hardrive, Came with a Windows Vista operating system.
I was not able to run some programs I needed on Visa, Have a basic dislike of the programs kinds and decided to install Windows XP on it instead.

I had a Slipstreamed Windows XP disk I made 2-3 years ago with SP3 on it that I ended up not using.

I used this and made it all the way to where you enter the product Key code.
Turns out I had already used the key code on a previous computer 2 years back ( found that out after calling Microsoft haha ).

After finding this out I went ahead and Purchased Windows XP pro with XP3 from Software speedy.

When I put the New Install Disk in it went through the Install process and reached the point where it says " Installing Windows" And then I had a window open up saying that there was an error and it had failed to install certain Catalog files.

I did some online research and found a Microsoft owned site with a Fix that instructed me to rename the Catroot using cmd.exe.
When I tried to do this it responded with " Access Denied"

After asking around I realized I may have made a mistake by NOT wiping the hard drive first before install.

I downloaded DBAN and burned the image onto a new blank CD-RW disk.
But whenever I try to use the disk the Computer completely ignores the FACT i have it in the drive, procedes with Windows XP install and asks me to insert the Install Disk.

I have tried setting Boot order to the disk drive through BIOS, and I have tried setting it to Boot from Disk using F8 on startup. No matter what i can't seem to get it to recognize the disk or begin the hard drive wipe process.

My assumption is I made a pretty basic mistake along the way ( Or quite a few lol ) or I may be missing something pretty obvious.

My experience with computers is limited and self taught, I've cleaned viruses from a few and re-installed Operating systems on 2 others in the past, so far back though I think i forgot most of what I had learned.

I'm at the point where I am worried I'd be better off purchasing a new computer without an OS and installing XP on it. I'd rather avoid having to shell out $300-$400 dollars for a new desktop though  .

Apologies for any grammatical errors and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

edit: Computer has NO OS on it currently and i do NOT have a Vista recovery disk or ability to go back to old OS currently.Do you have another PC? You can make a Linux-based CD that will boot up and you can use it to wipe the Hard Drive and prepare it for Windows installation.

Windows XP can install to  a hard drive that is wiped clean and doers not have an incompatible type partition already.

You said it was a home built. There are a few motherboards that are very hard for XP. If you are a newbie, you could just forget it and more on to something else.

One can not install XP om a PC that came with Vista.

IMHO your best investment is to find somebody you trust who will sell you his old computer. Or even buy a refurbished PC from an outlet that is backed by the company.

It appears the Microsoft recommends refurbished PCS with a MS certification.
Perhaps this means the will work. Here is the link.
http://www.microsoft.com/refurbishedpcs/
Hope this is of some help.I don't suppose you tried the new key with the slipstreamed disc. If it's the same version, it should work.

And I suppose you don't want to hear this, but any boot disk floppy is enough to reformat your hard drive. Boot from it, "format c:\, y" and you'll have a logically empty disk in 5 minutes.THANKS for the responses, Want to update everyone

I managed to get XP installed, I had too pull out all the RAM except 1 and it installed Smoothly.

For others with the same problem who might read this, here is the conversation that lead to me finally getting it installed.

this happened on FB so apologies for grammatical errors yet again.

========================================================

Ran The Man:This behavior may occur if one of the following conditions is true:
The Catroot2 folder is not correctly deleted during the installation.
Therandom access memory (RAM) configuration is not compatible with Windows XP.

One or more of the RAM modules on your computer do not work correctly.
Yesterday at 6:12pm · Like

Ran The Man: You can take out all the ram but one stick.
Yesterday at 6:13pm · Like

Ran The Man: You have a working desktop, put the hard drive that you want to wipe on it as a secondary drive and you should be able to delete the catroot file.
Yesterday at 6:14pm · Like

Ran The Man: You may need to go into bios to tell your computer which hard drive to use to boot up.
Yesterday at 6:14pm · Like

Lee-Enfield: let me try the ram fix
Yesterday at 6:15pm · Like

Ran The Man: On the ram, remove any dust on it and a paper towel with rubbing alcohol on the contacts will clean them. Just let it dry for a minute.
Yesterday at 6:16pm · Like

Lee-Enfield: Okay
Yesterday at 6:17pm · Like

Ran The Man: If you have two different brands of ram, they should be paired. But, isolate the problem first and one stick working will install XP.
Yesterday at 6:20pm · Like

Ran The Man:when reinstalling the ram pay attention to the notch between the contacts. The ram only fits in in one direction and then a slight push it clicks into place.
Yesterday at 6:27pm · Like

Lee-Enfield: DUDE i got install process to start from scratch for first time!
Yesterday at 6:40pm · Like

Ran The Man: is it trying to install?
Yesterday at 6:42pm · Like

Lee-Enfield: well iYep so far so good, ill keep you posted
Yesterday at 6:42pm · Like

Ran The Man: ok
Yesterday at 6:43pm · Like

Ran The Man If this doesn't work. Unplug any other drives on the computer optical and hard drives. Pull any cards that may be in it and use the onboard video, if it has one.
Yesterday at 6:45pm · Like

Ran The Man If it has a stock PSU and a killer video card, it may be drawing too much power for the PSU.
Yesterday at 6:46pm · Like

Lee-Enfield: Okay, just asked me for user and date and time
Yesterday at 6:46pm · Like

Ran The Man good sign.
Yesterday at 6:47pm · Like

Ran The Man sometimes it's stupid little things like the button battery, too.
Yesterday at 6:48pm · Like

Ran The Man: If it does install, try shutting it down and rebooting. If it boots back up you're almost good to go. You'll need to shut it down again and get the type of motherboard on it. Write that down and the video card manufacture and any number or make on it. If it has a built in lan, you'll need the drivers for that and the audio card.
Yesterday at 6:52pm · Like

Lee-Enfield: it worked...


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Geek-9p : Thanks for pointing that out, Someone else i know suggested the same thing, thanks for the response.

Hunter Quest : The slipstreamed disk was not the same version, And i'll hear anything that helps haha, Good to know about the floppy, though i don't have any floppy's on hand, i wonder if they still sell them?? haha.




The Issue i'm having now is my Multimedia Audio Controller is missing, tried installing a Real Tek one but it said that it wasn't a windows Logged driver? when i proceeded normally i received a Stop Error and had to restart.

Going to try and find a different driver somewhere else.

Anyone know a good place for Audio Controllers?Please advise precisely where you found this person.  Was it on IRC?  What server?  What channel?  Or, what other exact info can you provide so as to be able to find this person?

Thank you very much!The person was an acquaintance through a game site and he responded to a request for help posted on FB

I have seen him in IRC rooms associated with the game but I'm unsure if he'd want me to give out how to contact him or if he does this sort of thing a lot haha.

I'd be willing to ask him.