Clean Install of XP Home

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jerry
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J

Jerry

I have an ancient computer, brand name Pionex. Yes it is old but has the
hardware capable of running Win XP Home. A local church wanted a pc to
watch movies such as bible story and others they have on disks and I figured
this pc would be perfect for their needs. They don't need an internet
connection or anything. XP does not even have to be updated. The only
thing it will need is AC97 audio drivers.

The problem is that in the bios, there is no way to change the boot sequence
that I can see (cdrom is NOT one of the listed sequence). I did some
research and found that it is possible to install XP using a set of floppies
that can be generated by downloading WinXP_EN_HOM_BF.EXE from Microsoft.
All seemed to go well. I download the file and made the floppies. I
started the pc with disc 1 in the drive and it proceeded nicely up thru disc
6 and looked just like a normal xp install. It saw the XP install disc and
started the install. Now the glitch.

Shortly after the install started, I get this error:

..SIF is corrupt or missing
Value 0 on this line in Section [Source Disk Files] with key "SP1.cab."
Can not continue install, Press F3 to Quit.

I tried the install several times with different XP Home Install Disks (I
have several of them) each time formatting the hard drive first to make sure
it was clean from previous tries. I think the error is coming from the
floppy disks that were generated, but can not be positive. I don't think
all the install CDs would have the same missing/corrupt file.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
 
"Jerry" <jhuffman@triad.rr.com> wrote in message
news:477a285a$0$8886$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
>I have an ancient computer, brand name Pionex. Yes it is old but has
>the hardware capable of running Win XP Home. A local church wanted a
>pc to watch movies such as bible story and others they have on disks
>and I figured this pc would be perfect for their needs. They don't
>need an internet connection or anything. XP does not even have to be
>updated. The only thing it will need is AC97 audio drivers.
>
> The problem is that in the bios, there is no way to change the boot
> sequence that I can see (cdrom is NOT one of the listed sequence).
> I did some research and found that it is possible to install XP
> using a set of floppies that can be generated by downloading
> WinXP_EN_HOM_BF.EXE from Microsoft. All seemed to go well. I
> download the file and made the floppies. I started the pc with disc
> 1 in the drive and it proceeded nicely up thru disc 6 and looked
> just like a normal xp install. It saw the XP install disc and
> started the install. Now the glitch.
>
> Shortly after the install started, I get this error:
>
> .SIF is corrupt or missing
> Value 0 on this line in Section [Source Disk Files] with key
> "SP1.cab."
> Can not continue install, Press F3 to Quit.
>
> I tried the install several times with different XP Home Install
> Disks (I have several of them) each time formatting the hard drive
> first to make sure it was clean from previous tries. I think the
> error is coming from the floppy disks that were generated, but can
> not be positive. I don't think all the install CDs would have the
> same missing/corrupt file.
>
> Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
>


Just a guess but maybe the service pack level of the floppies and CD
do not match up. Just get a bootable floppy that include IDE CD-ROM
support (I'm assuming you are using IDE optical drives). Go to
www.bootdisk.com to get one. Then use it to boot into DOS whereupon
the CD driver should've been installed which means you can navigate to
the CD and run the setup.exe from there.
 
<snip>

>> I tried the install several times with different XP Home Install Disks (I
>> have several of them) each time formatting the hard drive first to make
>> sure it was clean from previous tries. I think the error is coming from
>> the floppy disks that were generated, but can not be positive. I don't
>> think all the install CDs would have the same missing/corrupt file.
>>
>> Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>
>
> Just a guess but maybe the service pack level of the floppies and CD do
> not match up. Just get a bootable floppy that include IDE CD-ROM support
> (I'm assuming you are using IDE optical drives). Go to www.bootdisk.com
> to get one. Then use it to boot into DOS whereupon the CD driver
> should've been installed which means you can navigate to the CD and run
> the setup.exe from there.

Close, but no cigar

That advice is NOT quite correct.

To install XP by using a win9x boot floppy...
you need to load smartdrv

(if you don't, then the installation will take 'forever' if it completes at
all)

also...the command to start the install from dos is : winnt

("setup" would be used *only* from a gui based install)
 
"Jerry" <jhuffman@triad.rr.com> wrote in message
news:477a285a$0$8886$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
>I have an ancient computer, brand name Pionex. Yes it is old but has the
>hardware capable of running Win XP Home. A local church wanted a pc to watch
>movies such as bible story and others they have on disks and I figured this pc
>would be perfect for their needs. They don't need an internet connection or
>anything. XP does not even have to be updated. The only thing it will need is
>AC97 audio drivers.
>
> The problem is that in the bios, there is no way to change the boot sequence
> that I can see (cdrom is NOT one of the listed sequence). I did some research
> and found that it is possible to install XP using a set of floppies that can
> be generated by downloading WinXP_EN_HOM_BF.EXE from Microsoft. All seemed to
> go well. I download the file and made the floppies. I started the pc with
> disc 1 in the drive and it proceeded nicely up thru disc 6 and looked just
> like a normal xp install. It saw the XP install disc and started the install.
> Now the glitch.
>
> Shortly after the install started, I get this error:
>
> .SIF is corrupt or missing
> Value 0 on this line in Section [Source Disk Files] with key "SP1.cab."
> Can not continue install, Press F3 to Quit.
>
> I tried the install several times with different XP Home Install Disks (I have
> several of them) each time formatting the hard drive first to make sure it was
> clean from previous tries. I think the error is coming from the floppy disks
> that were generated, but can not be positive. I don't think all the install
> CDs would have the same missing/corrupt file.
>
> Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
>


As has been pointed out, the file you use to create the floppy disks has to be
the correct version for your copy of XP. Download the file for the service pack
level of your installation CD from this web site.

How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
Jerry wrote:
> I have an ancient computer, brand name Pionex. Yes it is old but has the
> hardware capable of running Win XP Home. A local church wanted a pc to
> watch movies such as bible story and others they have on disks and I figured
> this pc would be perfect for their needs. They don't need an internet
> connection or anything. XP does not even have to be updated. The only
> thing it will need is AC97 audio drivers.
>
> The problem is that in the bios, there is no way to change the boot sequence
> that I can see (cdrom is NOT one of the listed sequence).




If the computer is so old (pre-1996-ish?) that it cannot boot from
the CD, it's most likely far too old to adequately support WinXP. It
certainly wouldn't serve for the sort of memory- and processor-intensive
multimedia use that you're considering.



--

Bruce Chambers

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Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

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killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
Vanguard, the setup disk is supposed to be for SP1 and the install disk has
SP1, so no reason to think they are NOT compatible.

I had also followed the instructions at :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994/

There is from what I read, a way to do this using a single floppy disk, but
I could find the file I needed to do that. If anyone knows where I might
get this I would appreciate it.

Thank You

"Jerry" <jhuffman@triad.rr.com> wrote in message
news:477a285a$0$8886$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
>I have an ancient computer, brand name Pionex. Yes it is old but has the
>hardware capable of running Win XP Home. A local church wanted a pc to
>watch movies such as bible story and others they have on disks and I
>figured this pc would be perfect for their needs. They don't need an
>internet connection or anything. XP does not even have to be updated. The
>only thing it will need is AC97 audio drivers.
>
> The problem is that in the bios, there is no way to change the boot
> sequence that I can see (cdrom is NOT one of the listed sequence). I did
> some research and found that it is possible to install XP using a set of
> floppies that can be generated by downloading WinXP_EN_HOM_BF.EXE from
> Microsoft. All seemed to go well. I download the file and made the
> floppies. I started the pc with disc 1 in the drive and it proceeded
> nicely up thru disc 6 and looked just like a normal xp install. It saw
> the XP install disc and started the install. Now the glitch.
>
> Shortly after the install started, I get this error:
>
> .SIF is corrupt or missing
> Value 0 on this line in Section [Source Disk Files] with key "SP1.cab."
> Can not continue install, Press F3 to Quit.
>
> I tried the install several times with different XP Home Install Disks (I
> have several of them) each time formatting the hard drive first to make
> sure it was clean from previous tries. I think the error is coming from
> the floppy disks that were generated, but can not be positive. I don't
> think all the install CDs would have the same missing/corrupt file.
>
> Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
>
 
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