The standard troubleshooter:
You receive a file copy error while the Setup program is running
When you try to install Windows XP, you may receive one of the following error messages:
Setup cannot copy the file file_name. Press X to retry, Y to abort where file_name is the file that Setup cannot copy, or:
INF File Textsetup.sif is corrupt or missing Status 14 SETUP CANNOT CONTINUE
This behavior may occur if any one of the following conditions is true:
• Your Windows XP CD-ROM is scratched, smudged, or dirty. Clean the Windows XP CD-ROM with a soft cloth, insert it in the CD-ROM drive, and then click OK.
• Your CD-ROM drive is not working correctly or the CD-ROM might be vibrating too much for the laser to accurately read the data. For more information about this problem, see your hardware documentation or contact the CD-ROM manufacturer.
• If you are using multiple CD-ROM drives, your computer may be trying to locate files on the wrong drive. If your hardware has a feature to disable CD-ROM drives that are not being used, disable the CD-ROM drives that you are not using.
• Your computer is over-clocked. Because over-clocking is very memory-intensive, decoding errors may occur when you extract files from your Windows XP CD-ROM.
• Try to use the default clock timings for your motherboard and processor. For more information about how to do this, see your hardware documentation or contact the motherboard manufacturer.
• Your computer has damaged or mismatched random access memory (RAM) or cache memory. For example, you might be using a combination of extended data out (EDO) and non-EDO RAM, or different RAM speeds.
Decoding errors may occur even if Windows appears to be running correctly. These errors occur because of the additional stress that is put on your computer when Windows tries to extract files and to access the hard disk.
To determine how to make your computer cache memory unavailable while you are running the Setup program, see your hardware documentation or contact your hardware manufacturer.
• Ultra direct memory access (DMA) is turned on in your computer's CMOS settings, and the data is moving too quickly.
• Change from DMA mode to Processor Input/Output (PIO) mode to lower your data transfer rate. If this does not resolve the problem, lower your PIO mode settings. The higher your PIO mode settings are, the faster your data transfer is.
• You are using a third-party memory manager.
• There is a virus on your computer.
If you continue to receive this error message, copy the i386 folder from the CD-ROM drive to your local hard disk, and then try to run the Setup program from your hard disk.
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There are special cases dealing with the ASMS files:
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HOWTO: Do do a disk copy and install from the hard disk:
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In my experience the cause of this issue is almost always faulty RAM. Do an extended RAM test prior to trying the installation with either of these tools:
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If you have both an optical reader/writer device, and an optical reader only device, use the latter.
