I've tried everything possible, but when starting the setup for 98 SE, it gets stuck on "Copying files needed for Windows Setup..." and then it just lets the hard drive run until I turn the case off. * Partitions set - C: = active primary * Installed all CAB files from 98 SE CD-ROM disc * Tried installing from both the copied CAB files (C:) and from the CD PLEASE HELP! I've had this problem countless times when trying to install W98 SE on several formatted HDs over the past couple weeks.

Has this been with the same installation CD? If so it's possible there is a scratch that's causing a read error when the install routine is decompressing the cab files. Do the failed installations anything in common like same type CD drives?

Have you ever had any success loading Win after copying the Win CAB Files to the C: Drive? If not it sounds like the CD you are using has a corrupted file or a bad place on the CD. Try cleaning the CD and then reinstall the CAB files to the C: Drive or retry loading Win from the cleaned CD.

I use a W98-SE startup disk, then there's two CD's I'm copying the CABs from. I usually don't have any problems. As I type this, it's installing W98-SE on a different mobo, but with the same 30G HD. Would HD size make any difference? *NO* I've tried the same 30G HD in another case w/ different MoBo, and it wasn't setting up correctly before. BOTTOM LINE - According to my boss, if you get the same problem (ie. stuck on "copying files") it's one of two things: 1. Bad MoBo 2. Bad processor Thanks for your help anyway! :-)