Weird install problems. PLEAS HELP

I just attended a LAN Party and so far i've had nothing but problems.

I didnt have the games they were playing so they passed arround dvd images of the game installers.. everyong seems to be able to install them successfully but me!

From one game to another.. same case..

I can launch the installer and actually install the first CD.. but when i get to the next CD, half way through i get all sorts of problems.. corrupted texture, file, whatver.. For example, Unreal tournament has 5 dvd image drives. And everytime i get to the 2nd CD, i get errors.. and it's a different corrupted file everytime.. what's worst is im the only one experiencing this..

Mind ya'll i have a FRESH installation of XPSP2.

anyideas?

Virus, LAN parties are notorious for them.

nope.. everyone's clean as of the moment.. there's only a few of us really..

also, did a scan and all that.. highly doubt virus.

Either you have a bad DVD/CD drive or your ram is hosed.

Have you tried trendmicro online? My AVP, etrust/computerASSociates missed a virus, trendmicro caught it. I forget who told me to try it out, a member of these forums, it changed my attitude towards CA/etrust, I'm no longer impressed.

If it's not spyware/malware, yeah, think about the DVD/CD.

Then again, I went through 2 CD burners, I thought they were crapola, in actuality, it was my HDD. Both burners up and running again, no probs, with the new HDD. Hey, I gave one to my wife, so it was a good thing.

hi,
thanks for the thoughts guys..

BrundleFly, most def, it aint a virus... it's also not bad CD/DVD coz i've done the installs from both DVD drives, copied it to my HD and tried it there... also tried it over LAN from one of the server hosting the DVD images..

Here's the thing, i found a pattern.. it seems that, whatever i try, the first DVD/CD/Image is no problem... it's always on the 2nd or 3rd part... Farcy has 5 CD images.. and i get the error on the 2nd CD image.. UT2004. same thing.. but when i installed Halo which just on 1 CD image i had no problems.. so it's always on the 2nd or 3rd part..

I also thought it could be NERO IMAGE DRIVE that was causing that.. i installed another version, and yet another version.. same thing..

i always get this:

Error 1335. The cabinet file '(RANDOM FILES HERE)' required for this installation is corrupt and cannot be used. This could indicate a network error, an error reading from the CD-ROM, or a problem with this package.

Click to expand...

- Random files means the error is always somethig else.. even on the same CD images..

Either you have a bad DVD/CD drive or your ram is hosed.

Click to expand...

fa-real? My RAM? How so? I've been playing heavy games on this, both OC'd and NOT. and i dont experience a single hick-up.. I've also installed other "much smaller" things as well. How do i check if it's really RAM? this is scary.

As for you problam I cannot help, kind of sands like a messed up HDD to me. Almost like its losing track of were its putting files, or just a messed up copy of windows. Any way to test ram try this Or this

done tests. no problems there.. does this call for a windows reinstallation?

ive had this.

ram would cause BSODs

take a look at your HDD. especially the maxtors peice of craps...lotta bad sectors sounds like to me. Bad sectors dont move, they jsut multiply.

ive had drives where the windows install works, and if i install things in the SAME ORDER evertime, itd work until a certain point....wich is where you run into the bad sectors.

Run CHDSK. ive had tons of bad drives, but Xp never detects them. instead CHDSK just hangs.

i see.. well, my RAM doesnt have problems.. so it must be the HDs? I just did a spinrite maintenance routine on the first drive, and that was A-OK.. i havent tested my second drive to which i am installing the games into.. i will try installing the games on the first drive.. and see how that works..

well... that didnt work.. got to the second CD image... then the same error..

I also tried installing UT2004.. same thing..

could this be a windows problem now? everything else seems to work fine.. I just installed Encarta 2005 from one dvd (4GB) and that went without a hitch.. i also installed 5 CDs of Doom3. No problems there. this is mighty weird..

How about if i try to update my installer thing in windows? that possible? is there like an installer engine that handles the installation... msi?
tea

Try to install something small, winzip, mozilla, whatever. See if you can get through that. I am thinking that your windows installer is bad. Make sure you windows installer service isnt disabled. Set it on manual.

Optical drives are usually first to go. I just had to buy a new one myself...drove me nutts. Have you tried swapping?

Try to install something small, winzip, mozilla, whatever. See if you can get through that. I am thinking that your windows installer is bad. Make sure you windows installer service isnt disabled. Set it on manual.

Click to expand...

well, i intalled huge ones with success.. i also installed winrar, and a few small apps.. everything's OK.. it's just these nero cd images.. which installed on everyone else but me.. first CD always works the second gives a corrupted file (random files)

Optical drives are usually first to go. I just had to buy a new one myself...drove me nutts. Have you tried swapping?

Click to expand...

nope. i dont think optical drives are my issues. like i said i have installed huge apps (encarta and doom) from CD and dVD drives.. also, i tried installing these nero CD images from the CD itself and from the harddrive.. same situation..

Well, this is an easy one. YOU are using COPIES of those games. The original CD's are copy protected. The person who made the copies more than likely either HAS the games installed or has some kind of a crack for them. I suggest you purchase the games legitimately and fix all the problems.

Z

Well, this is an easy one. YOU are using COPIES of those games. The original CD's are copy protected. The person who made the copies more than likely either HAS the games installed or has some kind of a crack for them. I suggest you purchase the games legitimately and fix all the problems.

Click to expand...

thanks for the comments.. but right now purchasing them isnt really the issue. i am more into debuggin this problem and learning more perhaps..

Again,this is a problem NOT DUE to copies.. as i posted above, we were at a LAN PARTY and a server PC hosted the NERO CD/DVD IMAGE FILES of all sorts of games...

everyone got them and installed them by loading the images into NERO IMAGE DRIVE over the network.. others copied the NRG image files to their hardrives first.. i tried both.. i get the error.. i tried some *.NRG images that were on a DVD disc, didnt work also.. everyone else tried on their systems all the things i tried on mine. im the only one with the problem..

so this may be a "not so easy" one... it aint the copy issues.. it's something in my FRESHLY installed XP system.. im just looking/waiting for more answers before i go and REINSTALL windows... again.

This is a copy protection issue. You have a fresh install of the OS. This would mean you dont have the copy protection software installed. For example. SimCity4 will allow you to make a backup disk to run the game and EVEN reinstall it. BUT you must have installed the game at one point from the original CD's or the backups will not work. This IS a copy protection issue. Lastly, the games are copies of games you did not purchase. This is against the law and I am sure against forum rules.

Z

hmm. i see.. but im pretty sure there's no copy protection in them CD images.. thaks though. it's worth to know for the future..


As for the legality of the games, i aint gona lie.. what we did back there was sharing.. in order for all of us to be able to play, everyon must have the games installed right?

We're not the only ones doing this.. it's obvious and known that everyone around the world is doing this stuff often.. but what i can assure you is that our group supports these games.. i myself have bought doom3, both prince of persia titles (sot and wow), and some other games.. i plan to purchase farcry soon.. worth to note also, i have finished POP warrior within using pirated copies.. since they got here quicker than the licensed ones.. but i still bought the legal copies. ANd so did "MOST" of the people at the LAN PARTY..

Please do not lecture me of this software piracy issue as this is not my purpose in writting this thread.. There are more TECHNICAL ISSUES to learn here, perhaps the workings of XP, it's bugs, rather than the point you are insisting on. Whatever I learn from debugging this installer issue will benefit me and my friends in my future trouble shooting of their systems, should they get into similar troubles installing LEGITIMATE software.

ALso, I am a software developer myself, and I dont buy into piracy as it backfires on me. Though licensing costs in rich countries are same here in our 3rd world part of the planet (which isnt fair in the first place), I purchase the software/games that I think is worth it.. add that to my habit of COLLECTING game titles.

Nevertheless, i do understand your views as well as appreciate that you are one of the few who's supporting the industry.. However, it's just not what I am looking for in this thread.

thanks

tea