2nd or 3rd Opinion on 'error' msg

[mgreene]

Hello to the Board - and wishes to all for a prosperous New Year.

Before I get to my issue this is my current system: Dell GX520, Windows XP Professional, SP2, 74gig hard drive using only 9gigs of space, 504megs of RAM.

Here's hoping that who I'm writing about is not a member here - - - I recently purchased MS Office 2003 Professional from what I "thought" was a reliable source. An officemate who is part of our IT department and has started their own business.

You guessed it - not so reliable after all.

The price was great and I didn't care that I wasn't getting any of the fluff packaging. I got a disc, a suite key code and directions as to which set up file I was to use to install the software suite.

So far no problem. However,,, when I went to install the software, I received the following error message:: "Error opening installation log file. Verify that the specified log file location exists and is writable."

I told this person this and their answer was "it might be a hard drive write error" and to copy everything over to my hard drive and try again. I copied, I tried, same error msg popped up.

I also verified that I was using the correct set up file. For my Final "try," I even turned off several items that run in the background. Nope, no install and the same error msg.

This person has told me a couple of times that the problem lies in my computer and that IT needs to be "fixed" and they offered several ways to do that. BUT my pc is NOT going anywhere to be out of service for X # of weeks and I will NOT have them making a house call.

I am not an IT level individual by any means - another variety of geek , yes , but that's another story - but I have installed my share of software on numerous pc's without ANY problems and without having to have anything "fixed" in order for the install to process. That's what irks me (major IRK here) about all this - it's my pc that is the problem not the software on the disc.

And btw I am returning said disc to this person and getting my money back.

So:: Question 1 -- what is the opinion of the board as to why this *&!%!$#! software will not install ? Question 2 -- can you direct me to a reliable source where I can purchase this software for somewhere in the ballpark of $200 +/- , or less if possible ?


Thanks to all !
Merri

[glc]

1. It's probably a burned CD with defects.

2. http://www.viosoftware.com/Office+20...Promo+OEM.html

[mgreene]

Thank you , Thank you , glc . . . that the disc was the problem was my opinion , but who am I to question that , I'm just a "customer" wanting good customer service. He did mention once that the disc "may" have been a bad burn, but "unlikely" and seemed to be concentrating on the "fix."

AND thank you also for the link to the VioSoftware site. A good price on the software and free shipping!


Merri

[mgreene]

An additional update . . .

The software from VioSoftware was received very quickly and is now installed , although not without some tense moments. (a) in a separate issue , my mailman can't read a clearly printed address and delivered my package to another location which also resulted in other issues , but (b) when I initially tried to install this latest purchase , I received the same darn Error Msg as before. Major augh! Then as I looked at the available files on this disk , my little voice told me to try a different file , and voilà , everything installed in minutes without any problems. The software came with a detailed list of system requirements , but no written specifics on what to do to install - but I figured it out. And yes , it would have been quicker to look at the Properties Summary to know which file to use , but I didn't think of that until later.

Now I know that the file that I needed to use was NOT the one that I was told to use and that the proper installation file was NOT on that other disc. Ha! Ok , so I'm gloating.

Thanks again , glc , for the link to Vio and for your help with this. Appreciate it!


Merri