Help! can't re-install Windows XP Home

[xbomber]

I'm having big problems trying to re-install windows XP on my Dell, Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz with a 30M hard drive.

About 1.5 weeks ago the computer became very unstalbe and would crach constantly. Tried a repair re-install using the CD ROm that cam with the computer. XP Operating system would launch OK, but it would still crash when using programs. So I decided to do a clean install.

Started by selecting and deleteing the existing C: sector. Left the 32 MB unnamed FAT sector alone. Then selected the new Raw sector to install XP Home edition. Program formatted the sector, and then I hit the button to install XP. Part way through the install, the program stopped and I got a message that a file could not be copied. Could not get it to copy so I told it to continue. This happed about 3 times with different files.

When the Windows XP screen came up, the installation stopped looking for a file on D:/I386. The installation won't go past this point.

I repeated the entire process a second time with the same results.

I suspect that the problem is in the files not being copied. Why would this happen? Is my XP cd defective? Is my hard drive defective?

I have no idea what to do next.

Help.

[EzyStvy]

A spec of dust on either the XP cd or cd drive could cause this.

[xbomber]

Thanks EzyStvy. I'll check that out tonight and try again.

[xbomber]

Root cause of all the problems turned out to be a bad memory card. Pulled the memory 1 card at a time. When the 2nd card was pulled, everything loaded up just fine. Too bad I had to reformat my hard disk to figure this out.