I would say: Assuming XP was installed properly with SATA/RAID drivers from the motherboard & assuming the copy of XP is ligitimate & all these program disks are ligitimate then most likely there is a problem with the DVD/CD drive & or its' connections.

Have you tried both DVD/CD drives with the same result?

I would verify with your IT guy that he installed XP off of one of these DVD/CD drives.

If it is a hardware issue you will need to open up the case. Try disconnecting one drive at a time & using the other. Trial & error.

If this is a software issue you really need to be on the machine.

Check the Device Manager: RT click My Computer then click Manage then Device Manager or go to start/run/ devmgmt.msc for any "!"

Especially next to DVD/CD drives. Also IDE/ATA/ATAPI Connectors | Primary Channel | Secondary Channel. Also SATA/RAID drives.

Also: look in your Event viewer: rt. click My Computer then click Manage then Event Viewer.
Or: Administrative Tools/Event Viewer or Start/Run/ eventvwr
Open the system as well as the application tabs & look for X errors. Click error line for details.
Post back the source & event id especially of errors that seem to coincide with this issue.

Also view your Error Log via:
[1] Start Menu
[2] Help and Support
[3] Pick a Task
[4] Tools
[5] Advanced System Information
[6] View the Error Log

I know all the SATA/Raid drivers are on as can see them on the main boards utility setup, Whether they are working correctly is a different matter.

Will have another look at the jumper settings on the drives and try your fault finding idea.

Will have a look at the event viewer logs and get the error reports back o you tomorrow.

Would it be easier to determine the error if i cleared the error logs and started the installation process again so you can see the errors as they happen so to speak?

Thankyou for your suggestions, hopefully they might help me solve the problem!

The logs are marked as to time.
You can try to force the issue noting the time in order to see if an error coincides.

I am still curious if your IT guy installed XP from either of your DVD/CD drives?

Or did he install the hard drive with XP previously installed?

Bingo the problem is fixed!

To answer your queries the hard drive was brand new!
I asked him and he did install from the master cd drive.

After about an hour of fruitless playing last night i decided on some drastic measures, i did a system restore back to the 23rd july, the day the computer was born.

This had amazing results, through a bit of luck this was the very first restore point before any software was intalled at all.

I traces the problem back to the incorrect installation of the main boards utility drivers mainly the ide control. after doing this again it will now install sotware in a jify!

Now have no issues at all with the pc, except cost for accessories.

Thankk you very much for your help, just wait and see how long before i am back with another problem.

Glad to hear it!

Let us know if we can help further in the future!

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