Just FYI, should you encounter a similar XP install problem, I will share my recent experience: Tried to do a clean install of XP on a system (new MB, old 80GB HD, 2 new 512MB DDR RAM modules) on which I had been running 98SE for a couple of weeks. In each of several tries (clean install)one or more different files could not be copied correctly (error message) and while XP "installed" it would not function properly and REPAIR would not correct the problems. To make a longer story short, after trying many remedies I finally uninstalled one of the 512MB RAM modules, encountered same problem, swapped the RAM modules, and installed XP without a hitch. The 'bad' memory module apparently has a defect in a memory address that is critical to the XP install/file copy process, but not a noticeable problem when just running things off the harddrive with 98SE before. Wish I figured that out two days earlier...

Thanks for the post. Yes, there is a lot of bad memory out there, and plenty from top manufacturers. What you experienced is very common now! Especially with gamers who fire up their 3D rendered games and start crashing, but normal applications run fine. If the bad memory addresses are further up the tree structure of the ramstick, normal apps will run fine until an app runs that demands large data be loaded into RAM (games, for example), then it hits those bad addresses and the system crashes. Lately I've been suggesting to folks to check their ram sticks a lot, almost to the point where I'm embarrassed. Not all system problems are caused by bad memory, but there is so much of it out there now it should be a standard check for any problem.

what do you suggest i use to check bad memory? is there a program online or something or should i take it to somewhere to do that? i am going to replace my hdd (since it went bad) and i think i might as well check the memory after the install to make sure things are running right, thanks

You can download a free RAM tester (DocMemory) that runs from a bootable floppy and will do a quick or exhaustive check of your memory: www.simmtester.com (wish I'd had it before I went through two days of agony...)

Remove one of your 512mb chips and install XP as you normally would. Then go online and dl all the xp updates you can. reboot. then after it boots and finishes everything it needs to. power down, and insert the 512mb chip that you took out. should work fine

Thanks, but I think I'll pass on re-inserting the faulty memory module. It's done enough damage as is. One event I didn't mention since it wasn't all that important to the saga was that on the near last attempted (and failed) XP install with it in, the boot sector plus who knows what else on my C: drive got corrupted so that I now can't even access the drive to fdisk or reformat it.