9 replies to this topic

[Jahidur]

I recently formatted my computer using the installation disk i was given by dell when i bought the computer. However, i tried to install microsoft service pack 2 and recieved a message that said file corrupt. the message came when it was checkeng the file i386 please help me

Edited by Nergal, 16 July 2012 - 12:57 PM.
changed title for better help

[Alan_B]

After formatting the next thing to do is install the Operating System,
and only after that can you install a service pack.

What is your operating system ?
Is it XP or something else ?

What did you do to check i386 ?
N.B. under XP this is a folder, not a file.

Others than I can advise you better that I,
but your answers to the above will probably be useful to them.

[Super Fast]

Jahi, Windows normally does not install a file if it cannot read the media. I am declining to suppose that it installed the file in a corrupted condition, though it may be possible.

The possibilities that are left that I am looking most at are:

1) Bad servicepack -> Re-download (& be certain it is the correct SP2, as they have IT Professional & developer editions.) You want the standard 266 MB variant of it. Yes, attempting to install developer & IT pro variants CAN cause problems.
2) Bad Ram -> Try removing all but 1 of your RAM sticks & seeing if it installs with just that 1 stick of RAM. If it fails again, test another stick of RAM. Sometimes, a bad stick of RAM can cause this error.

There are other possibilities, but I wonder if you have a bad RAM stick?

Please check your SP2 version & try another clean download of it, being sure you select the correct 266 MB version of it.
Also, do the above test to ensure your RAM isn't affecting it.

[Andavari]

If it's XP do not bother with SP2, get SP3 installed for all the fixes. Of course installing SP3 is best done on a fresh install of Windows, but even better to have SP3 slipstreamed into an XP installation using freeware tools like nLite as it will mean a much more stable system from the get go without any possible conflicts/problems people have had when updating a service pack on an already well used system with other software and drivers on it, etc.

[Nergal]

updated title

[Super Fast]

Andavari, on 15 July 2012 - 07:31 PM, said:

If it's XP do not bother with SP2, get SP3 installed for all the fixes. Of course installing SP3 is best done on a fresh install of Windows, but even better to have SP3 slipstreamed into an XP installation using freeware tools like nLite as it will mean a much more stable system from the get go without any possible conflicts/problems people have had when updating a service pack on an already well used system with other software and drivers on it, etc.

Got to be careful with both of those, Andavari.

On some AMD machines, SP3 causes a crash. At least on older machines. And some wifi cards (internal & external) can be confused by the way SP3 handles packets & block internet access because of the packets getting dropped that are legit.

Also, I have used nLite, & it is a good program. Just got to be careful. If you use the merge option for cabinet files, it will corrupt XP cab files so that when you try to re-install XP, it gives an error instead after a good ways into the setup. I forget if this was if you also added/subtracted drivers from the cabinets to create newer ones, but it is best to leave that cabinet merge alone.

You can make changes safely, or even add SATA driver support, but messing with the drivers in XP cabinet files itself will cause a coaster that errors during Windows setup.

SP2 is known to be stable & works with most everything out there. SP3 does have a few things it is picky about/won't work with that work under SP2, but the main things are the BSOD on certain AMD machines, & the wifi failing to work after connecting.

I am not saying not to update to SP3, but only to be aware that it can cause problems. I remember a while back when a company had hundreds of BSOD from the SP3 update on their AMD machines.

When you update to SP3, be sure to back everything up first, just in case your system happens to be one that will BSOD on update.
While most users probably should be fine, better to be safe than sorry.

[Andavari]

Super Fast, on 17 July 2012 - 05:59 PM, said:

I am not saying not to update to SP3, but only to be aware that it can cause problems.

I know of SP3's problems it can cause because when it was first released it screwed up plenty on my PC. Many problems disappeared when doing a fresh install of XP, and then immediately after first startup I installed SP3. However all of the problems I had disappeared after I made a slipstream XP install with SP3 built in.

And that merge .cab thing I would've never did anyways, when I made my disc the only thing I modified via nLite was what services I didn't want to start automatically.

[Super Fast]

Andavari, on 17 July 2012 - 06:21 PM, said:

And that merge .cab thing I would've never did anyways, when I made my disc the only thing I modified via nLite was what services I didn't want to start automatically.

It seemed to work great for adding things, unless you selected the cab merge thingie, which would screw things up royally. I tested several ways & it always ended up with a failing install when I selected cab merge. But I added Sata/Webcam/other drivers, Royale Visual Style, edited settings, & various other things fine.

It upset me somewhat to note that Outlook & one other icon were impossible to get nLite to auto-remove on an nLited cd. Could change the setting, but on install, Windows would fail to remove that & the other icon I selected. But about everything else worked fine.

I wish I knew a way to integrate IE8 + WMP 11 into XP as well. That would be FANTASTIC! I never did figure that part out though.

Don't suppose u know a way to integrate IE8 & WMP 11 do you? Those are 2 things I long wanted to auto-setup on XP.

[Andavari]

Sorry I don't know.

I literally haven't played with nLite for years now, I used it that one time to make my new XP setup disc and then I was done with it. Come to think of it I didn't even use that slipstreamed disc for almost 2 years until I got sick of the bugs in XP and reinstalled back in January 2010 which will never happen again thanks to disk imaging software.

[Super Fast]

I have a few things I hate about XP myself.

SP3 is more secure, but sometimes it just seems stable longer under SP2 & things work better overall. Additionally, the file browser for XP starts to hang at around 3,000 to 3,500 files in a folder. It is pretty impossible it seems, to open 5,000 items in a folder under XP. It is just an XP Windows Explorer problem.

With Windows 7, it will open 24,000 + files in a folder without a problem.

I do love the XP image viewer for it's smooth enlargement of smaller images & the ability to play animated GIF files. Took me a while to locate the only file necessary to make it run & experiment with various settings to find out just how small I could make it & make it default for all users, etc, but I did do it. After I found a way to import XP image viewer into Windows 7, it finally felt "complete".

But if I ever found a way to integrate WMP 11 + IE8 for XP, that would be great!