os cd read problems/corruption

archevilangel

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 15, 2003
Messages
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ok my dad recently upgraded his pc to:

amd athlon xp 2800+ dfi kt600 motherb0ard (frys combo) and 512 mb generic pc2700(I know :/).

The other parts in the system are an antec case w/ antec 350 watt powersupply, geforce 2 gts, 2 x western digital 30 gb 7200 rpm 2 mb cache (not in raid or anything), a sony 32x burner, a generic 32x cdrom drive, a dlink 54g network card, a hercules sound card, and a sony 17" lcd monitor.

When he went to reinstall windows xp home(retail) it kept coming up with errors that it couldn't read certain files on the windows cd. After holding return(to retry file) a few of them would work a few wouldn't) so we immediately suspected scratches. We looked at the disk and sure enough there was some light scratches, so we tried data dr to remove them. We retried, and a few files that couldn't be read worked, but a few new files that couldn't be read popped up. This was with the generic 32x drive. So we try the Sony 32x burner, same thing. We then tried swapping ide cables, same thing. Then we try a few other os's, windows 2000 pro, and windows xp pro, each one exhibited the same problem, certain files where unreadable. The files where different between operating systems. So we then try knoppix linux, the first time we booted knoppix it came up with a few errors and booted horendously slow, then we reset and it booted just fine. So then we try swapping the memory. We replaced the generic pc2700 with some good crucial pc2700(which I know is good) and it fails to boot at around the memory test.

Recap:

Sympton: Corrupted files while installing operating system

Things We've tried:
1. Different cdrom drives
2. Different Ide cables
3. Different memory
4. Different operating systems
5. Cleaning/polishing the cd
6. *EDIT* forgot to mention I tried to mess with memory timings, but the board doesn't offer them...

Anyone Have any ideas?
 
run memtest to see if you motherboard or RAM are problematic. I'm guessing the mobo is iffy.

Oh, did you try flashing to the latest BIOS?
 
I say run memtest. It sounds like a RAM problem my friend was having the other week while trying to reinstall winXP.
 
*update*

I put back in that stick of crucial, replacing the generic ram, and it works perfectly. I gave my dad the crucial stick, so my dad went to frys and returned the generic stick. He then proceded to buy their last stick of mushkin pc3500 level 1 512 mb they had for $110 and gave it to me for giving him the crucial stick and helping him out for the last couple days :) thx guys
 
I was about to post and say memory as i've had exactly the same problem.

Looks like you got it fixed though, good job.
 
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