Failure to Install Automated Windows

[Intrepid Traveler]

I recently created an automated windows installation disc from a corporate edition disc and slipstreamed it to service pack 1 (as the deployment tools for service pack 2 were impossible for me to acquire from microsoft due to the dubious legality of my possessing a corporate edition disc).

Everything was peachy, however, until I went to use the disc. It booted up just fine and so forth, and copied all the files (except where noted), but after the reboot into the windows-based installation, it merely sits at the blue screen that has the testimony about what you can do with windows and the little bulleted deals that the tell you how far along you are and the nifty status bar and the approximation as to how much time you have left until said installation is complete.

Its not frozen, per se, as the busy indicator in the lower right (the green blocks that flash in sequence) is flashing, and the testimonies are cycling, and the disc continues to spin up and down and the cd light flashes, but it has said I have 39 minutes left for over an hour now. Now I'm used to windows giving me bad approximations, but this doesn't appear to be actually doing anything. In addition to the avove, there is no status bar (which normally resides beneath the time indicator) (the status bar being the one that changes from white to green depending on how far along one is with his installation).

Also, though this is unrelated to the fact that it is automated, my installation is missing two files, AVICAP32.DLL (which is asked for during the first portion (the windows set-up, blue screen\kind of looks like DOS part)and Tyrol.JP_ (during the windows based part (with the testimonies and whatnot)). I have used the regular, non-automated version of the installation disc many times before on many different computers and have merely told windows to skip the two missing files and continued with the installation with no problems whatsoever (the OS I am using at this very moment was installed in such a fashion). Since it prompts me as to what to do, I would naturally like to get rid of these, but I checked the I386 folder and both of those files are in there, (on both the regular and automated versions of my disc) so I don't really know what the deal is with any of this nonsense.

If anyone could help me with any of my woes I would surely be indebted unto him, and grateful.

Edited January 2, 2006 by Intrepid Traveler

[Intrepid Traveler]

UPDATE:I let it run for a while and went back to it in a few hours and it had a message about a fatal cyclic redundancy error. It said my disc or installation or whatever was bad, and I would have put what it said here, but I restarted before thinking about it. Anyway, what causes a cyclic redundancy error?

[rikgale]

This is more than likely a problem with your harddrive. Run a google search on "cyclic redundancy error" I can't remember what it is off the top of my head, but it not overly good. I had one of those on one of my data drives about 6 months ago. I could not read or write to certian areas of the disc.

[TheDr!ll]

UPDATE:I let it run for a while and went back to it in a few hours and it had a message about a fatal cyclic redundancy error. It said my disc or installation or whatever was bad, and I would have put what it said here, but I restarted before thinking about it. Anyway, what causes a cyclic redundancy error?

Cyclic redundancy error is normally a bad burn to the CD OR DVD, If using nero to burn the files back .. you can enable it to compare the files that have been copied. This should stop the message from coming up.

[Intrepid Traveler]

I tried to reburn the auto-disc in Nero and it failed to burn at all. It said "Burn Process Failed" after trying to write the lead-in. I tried again with Alcohol 120% and it also failed. I deleted the xpcd.iso file I was using and created another one from cdimage gui and that one also failed in both programs. Could there be a problem with cdimage? I am inclined to not think that it is a problem with my hardware, as everything works fine for other purposes.

[CompFX]

Sometimes the simplest things are overlooked. Be sure the media is blank, if using a cd/dvd -RW, try a full format vs a quick erase. Quick erase only deletes the file structure, not actually the files. a full erase will delete the files (sort of)

Also, try burning at a slower speed. as well as watch your buffer as you are burning. If the buffer runs low, and stays low, this could cause a bad burn because the computer cannot feed the information fast enough to the cd/dvd drive. Also, if you are running software which hogs the system resources, try shutting down that software prior to the burn; this will allow the buffer to run more steadily.

Also, a thing to note, a cd/dvd-rw disk is not forever. the more you write, the more you erase, the shorter the life span of that disk. I do not remember numbers off the top of my head, but that is something to keep in mind.

As far as a problem with cdimage... I would not think so, however, to eliminate a piece of the puzzle, you could try to redownload it again.

What are the exact errors you are getting from your burning software? Nero should say something alog with the error message youve posted. I have never used Alcohol 120, so i do not know how that responds.

Hope this was helpful in someway.