newbie needs help with assembling computer

[mysterium]

I recently assemble a new computer from the scratch. I have MSI PT 880 Neo series mb, P4 CPU, 40GB WD HD, and 512MB memory. I have hooked up everything properly I believe. But I am getting errors when I try to install win xp home editiion. It lets me format my hd ok, but once it starts copying files from winxp cd, it gives me error saying that setup unable to copy file x do u want to retry or skip and this happens few times and then black screen comes saying runtime error. I requested microsoft to send me a new cd because i thought cd might be damaged, but still having the same problem.

Can anyone here please help me figure out whats going on? Could it be a problem with CPU not set properly on the mb, or could it be because IDE cables that I use are not compatible with my mb? please help. thanks in advance.

 

[AuBrEy Online]

Umm, try the hard disk in a different computer and the Windows XP disc.

 

[zeroordie]

I've had the same problem i beleive when I bought my comp,
the thing is, if the computer starts and boots with ur cd than there is no problem with the CPU whatsoever cus if there was the comp would just not start.
The problem might be with ur hard drives, but i can't really see what problem it would be.
Anyway, the prob i had was that i had bought a win xp upgrade cd instead of a full instalation disc. This means that if u have an upgrade cd it will only install xp on ur comp if it recognises an older version of windows on ur comp. So be sure to check if ur cd isnt a win xp upgrade cd.

 

[Chankama]

When u boot from a floppy disk, can u see your hard drive? And can you do stuff with it? e.g. copy files, read files, etc.

 

[Apokalipse]

if you have a 98 disk, delete the partition using fdisk, then create a primary partition. do a quick format in NTFS from the XP CD

 

[jerry5739]

i am about 99 percent sure that u got a bad stick of RAM...wen i built my first computer i coodnt install all of the xp files and if i skipped them it would either shut down or the Os wouldnt work properly. i would suggest RMA ing ur RAm or trying another stick if u have it

 

[Kadahaf]

do what apok said formatting usually fixes the problem

 

[mysterium]

Thanks alot guys for posting a reply. I would try all the suggestions tomorrow when i start work on it again. As per some of the suggestion, I have completely new HD that I bought from retail store and I am using win xp home ed full version and not the upgrade version. Anyways, thanks alot guys for all your help and I would let you guys know what solved the problem. thanks.