Brand new XP disc corrupt?

[Mojo67821]

Hi, I'm a new user here, and a very new Mac user. I just bought a macbook pro with 1.8 processor and 1.5 gigs of ram.

I used bootcamp, tried to install windows and when it begun the DOS installation I got an error reading that either there wasn't enough space, or my disc was "corrupted".

The partition I chose (C:, the right one) had 28 gigs on it, so I know it wasn't a space issue. The only thing I think it might be is the CD.

My brother goes to RIT, a technical college in Upstate New York. They have a deal with Microsoft where they can purchase copies of windows for 10 dollars. So he purchased me a brand new copy of Windows XP with service Pack 2. It came with 2 different CD's, one said "X64 version"... it may be stupid of me but I'm not quite sure what that means. Anyways, I used the other CD which appeared to be the main install CD.

I guess I'm wondering if perhaps this is some special edition of the OS that is issued to colleges at this low price, and that is why it's not working. It's the only reason I can think of that might be causing this "corrupted" error.

If this doesn't work, I might just buy a new copy of XP home edition, since it's only 100 dollars anyway.

Any help would be greatly appreciated... I'm feeling a bit stranded as a PC user who can't get this thing to work.

 

[yankeefan24]

I doubt its a corrupt disc, or a different version for them.

X64 is for 64 bit processors, i believe, so don't use that.

Is this Pro or Home or MCE? Pro works the best. I wouldn't use Home with the MBP because it can't take advantage of the dual core (so your dual core is only one core at 1.83).

Good luck! Maybe someone knows the answer to this or has had the same experience.

-yankeefan

 

[Mojo67821]

I doubt its a corrupt disc, or a different version for them.

X64 is for 64 bit processors, i believe, so don't use that.

Is this Pro or Home or MCE? Pro works the best. I wouldn't use Home with the MBP because it can't take advantage of the dual core (so your dual core is only one core at 1.83).

Good luck! Maybe someone knows the answer to this or has had the same experience.

-yankeefan

It is professional edition. I read about the media edition, but nothing on the disc says "Media Edition". I would assume that it would be on there in big bold letters if it was. They just came in sleeves with activation keys, no box or anything else. But it specifially says Pro edition with Service Pack 2.

This is just incredibly frustrating for me. I've put a lot of man hours in the last week towards getting this thing to work. The only reason why I bought this thing was so that I could run both OS's, but since all of my current work (video editing, web design) is PC based... I essentially have a really expensive computer to check my email with. Plus, because it's all so CPU intensive, emulation is really out of the question for me at this point.

Anyways, I'm going to break down and buy a new XP Pro edition from the store tomorrow... unless anyone can help me out. Thanks to the last poster for helping me out.

 

[Nermal]

At what point does it fail? You mentioned that you select the partition to install to, but how much further does it get? Does it ask which filesystem you want to use? Does it start copying files?

 

[Mojo67821]

It gets to the part where I pick how to format the drive, I picked NTFS. It all happened sort of fast, so I wasn't paying complete attention, but I believe that it actually began to copy files when it gave me the error.

Now, for those who read the above part (about getting the disc from my brother at college), now that I'm looking at it, although it does say Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2, on the right side of the disc it does have the words:

November 2004
Systems
Student Media

Does this mean that it is indeed the "Media Center" edition? I didn't think that it was since it didn't specifically say "Media Center", but now I'm starting to wonder. Either way I only paid 10 dollars for it... but I'd hate to spend 200 for a new copy of XP pro if I don't have to.

 

[wmmk]

It gets to the part where I pick how to format the drive, I picked NTFS. It all happened sort of fast, so I wasn't paying complete attention, but I believe that it actually began to copy files when it gave me the error.

Now, for those who read the above part (about getting the disc from my brother at college), now that I'm looking at it, although it does say Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2, on the right side of the disc it does have the words:

November 2004
Systems
Student Media

Does this mean that it is indeed the "Media Center" edition? I didn't think that it was since it didn't specifically say "Media Center", but now I'm starting to wonder. Either way I only paid 10 dollars for it... but I'd hate to spend 200 for a new copy of XP pro if I don't have to.

if it was media center, it'd be on two discs

 

[timswim78]

I wouldn't use Home with the MBP because it can't take advantage of the dual core (so your dual core is only one core at 1.83).
-yankeefan

What is your source on this? I am asking because AMD says that its dual core chips are supported by XP Home. Just wondering why Intel dual core chips are different.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Weblets/0,,7832_8366_7595~95364,00.html

 

[Nermal]

Now, for those who read the above part (about getting the disc from my brother at college), now that I'm looking at it, although it does say Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2, on the right side of the disc it does have the words:

November 2004
Systems
Student Media

It sounds like these are custom CDs from the college, rather than proper Microsoft ones. Boot Camp is designed for use with Microsoft media and might not work with your ones.

Out of interest, are they CD-R (coloured bottom) or pressed (silver bottom)?

 

[Mojo67821]

First I just want to say that as this is my first post on these forums, I've been impressed by the response. You guys seem to be ontop of this stuff, and very willing to help me out.

The CD is definitely pressed, and not a burned copy. There are 2 CD's, but the 2nd one says something about x64, which someone mentioned earlier is for a different type of system.

I too would be interested in the definitive answer to whether or not Home edition supports the dual core... if it does, then it's obviously a deal over Pro edition, since I already have all of the office software anyways.

Doing a quick search, turned up this in a forum which seems to state that it does indeed use both "cores", because they're packaged in one processor. Of course, there's no way to tell the validity of these random messages:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t447890.html

 

[Nermal]

If it's a pressed CD then there's very little chance that it's a bad copy, so I'm surprised that it's not working. Run Boot Camp Assistant again, and delete and recreate the Windows partition. I guess it's possible that something happened during the partition creation.

Also, please check the licence for the academic version of Windows. Some products require you to be a student yourself, whereas others (such as Office 2004, I believe) allow a student's family to use them too. You don't want to be inadvertantly running an unlicensed copy.

 

[Mojo67821]

I tested the CD on my PC to make sure there was nothing wrong with it. It autoran and started up without problem.

Plus, he bought it from the bookstore so I don't see how it would be an unlicensed copy. It's just a service that they offer to the students because they have some sort of a deal with Microsoft. It's a big tech geek school so that makes sense.

Does anyone have any other info on whether or not home edition supports the use of both cores in the dual core?

 

[balamw]

I tested the CD on my PC to make sure there was nothing wrong with it. It autoran and started up without problem.

Plus, he bought it from the bookstore so I don't see how it would be an unlicensed copy. It's just a service that they offer to the students because they have some sort of a deal with Microsoft. It's a big tech geek school so that makes sense.

Does anyone have any other info on whether or not home edition supports the use of both cores in the dual core?

Autorun and boot are different things. Did you try booting from the CD, or did you insert it in a booted XP system?

I posted a link to MS's info on mutiple cores in another thread and will go find the link. Answer is definitely yes.

B

 

[dejo]

Does anyone have any other info on whether or not home edition supports the use of both cores in the dual core?

This Intel page states that Windows XP Home supports the Core Duo.

 

[balamw]

This Intel page states that Windows XP Home supports the Core Duo.

Here's the previous thread in which I posted Microsoft's story.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/192370/

B

 

[plinden]

Try downloading Parallels Workstation and installing it there (you don't have to activate it if it installs). If that works, then it's not likely to be the disk.

Now, I'm going to ask a question that some might find insulting, but you could have a doh! moment. Are you sure you have a 28GB and not 28MB partition? That's highly unlikely though.

Also it wouldn't do any harm to try to install it again, and take a note of what exactly the failure is and when it happens.

 

[balamw]

That's highly unlikely though.

Particularly since Boot Camp seems to like 5 GB increments.

The Parallels install is a good idea.

B

 

[Nermal]

Plus, he bought it from the bookstore so I don't see how it would be an unlicensed copy. It's just a service that they offer to the students because they have some sort of a deal with Microsoft. It's a big tech geek school so that makes sense.

I meant it might be unlicensed for you - if you're not a student then you might not be allowed to use it. The stuff I could get from polytech when I was a student was "tied" to me, I wasn't allowed to give it to anyone else, including family.

 

[MagnaPalam]

Also might want to check and make sure its a Full Version, and not just an Upgrade version. I've had to work on PC's where I had to do a hard wipe on the HDD, and the user would only have an upgrade disk for XP Home or Pro, and just so happens that I carry a Full Version Pro disk in my PC repair kit, and it helps me from time to time to get thru the install, because it wont install without some file in the Full Version disk. It will try to install, and let you choose partition, but it will keep taking you in circles till it finds what its looking for on the disk.

Just another option, hope you do have a XP Pro Full Version disk.

 

[Mojo67821]

As far as I can tell, it is not an "upgrade version". It doesn't say that anywhere on either disc.

I had actually tried paralells yesterday, and everytime I started my virtual machine, it refused to boot up the WinXP SP2 disc... instead it just stalled out at the bios screen and didn't do anything. In other words it wouldn't even take me as far as when I was trying to install it on my actual machine. So I then got out my original Win XP service pack 1 disc, popped it in and my paralells work station fired right up and installed windows.

When I popped it in my PC last night, it was already running and the CD just autoran. The idea of putting a bootable win xp disc into my machine on startup is a little scary... considering the amount of un-backedup work on there (I know I know, it's stupid). So I'll probably just skip that step.

So, considering that Home Edition is supported by dual core (thanks for the link) I'm just going to pick it up today at Best Buy, fire it up this weekend and see if I can't get this damn boot camp thing to work. I know my cross platform holy grail is out there!

thanks again to everyone, you guys are very helpful.

 

[balamw]

I had actually tried paralells yesterday, and everytime I started my virtual machine, it refused to boot up the WinXP SP2 disc...

This definitely sounds like you are in posession of an unbootable XPSP2 CD-ROM, or perhaps one that requires boot floppies or the like...

Note also that the full packaged product version of XP Home you will be able to buy at Best Buy will be $200, as you do not have a previous license of Windows for your mac that you can upgrade with the $100 version. If you have Fry's nearby go there instead and buy an OEM copy which will bring you back closer to $100.

EDIT: I meant to add that you could follow the directions to make slipstreamed discs bootable, you could probably make this one bootable.

B

 

[Mojo67821]

This definitely sounds like you are in posession of an unbootable XPSP2 CD-ROM, or perhaps one that requires boot floppies or the like...

Note also that the full packaged product version of XP Home you will be able to buy at Best Buy will be $200, as you do not have a previous license of Windows for your mac that you can upgrade with the $100 version. If you have Fry's nearby go there instead and buy an OEM copy which will bring you back closer to $100.

EDIT: I meant to add that you could follow the directions to make slipstreamed discs bootable, you could probably make this one bootable.

B

Thanks for the info. Since Best Buy is closest to me and I want to get this done asap, I'll probably just go there today after work. This whole thing has been a bit frustrating for me... but hopefully this will solve everything.

 

[puckhead193]

this may seem like a dumb idea, but since RIT is a tech school, could your brother go and ask the tech center/professor for help... and say its his computer....

 

[crees!]

The only reason why I bought this thing was so that I could run both OS's, but since all of my current work (video editing, web design) is PC based...

I do just that. Some video editing and a lot of web design. I hope you're looking to transition all your work over to the Mac. The only reason I would (don't yet) have a Windows PC is to test the compatibility of my websites. And if you need multiple browsers / versions to test don't forget to stop at http://browsers.evolt.org/

 

[Mojo67821]

I do just that. Some video editing and a lot of web design. I hope you're looking to transition all your work over to the Mac. The only reason I would (don't yet) have a Windows PC is to test the compatibility of my websites. And if you need multiple browsers / versions to test don't forget to stop at http://browsers.evolt.org/

Honestly, I'm not sure how plausible that is for me, considering I have a lot of money sunk into programs like photoshop and premiere pro and after effects, that I'm not about to buy new versions of for the Mac. I mainly bought a Mac so I could also run Final Cut in addition to everything that I already use. Plus, since I just spent a pretty penny on the machine itself, it will be a while before I consider transitioning totally over to the mac.

Besides, with this whole cross platform revolution that seems to be starting, I'm not sure I feel comfortable putting all of my proverbial "eggs" into one OS basket... especially since we've yet to see how this will affect the OS wars.

I will say however, that the only reason I considered buying a Mac was because of this new compatability with Windows, so in that sense it definitely enticed me to take the leap.

Edit: By the way, the salesmen at the Mac store failed to mention to me the fact that a lot of the programs I may be using (ie FCP express) had NOT been released as Univeral versions yet... It's my fault for not doing enough research, but considering I knew next to nothing about MAC osx before buying it, I didn't even know that the different chip would affect programs.

 

[Mojo67821]

Hey there... I'm not sure if anyone is following this anymore, but I finally got windows to install on my new macbook pro today.

I ended up buying a new edition of XP Home, because I was getting sick of everything.

All of the Mac Drivers are working perfectly, and I even had a wierd experience with my bluetooth mouse. Before I installed the MacDrivers it was actually working perfectly. I didn't do anything to set it up it was just working when I booted windows up. Then when the install of the drivers began, it stopped working until the install was done, at which point I had to set it up manually.

Anyways, thanks to everyone for the help, I'm glad to say I'm now a dual OS user.