Corrupt Windows disk...

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Just wanted to pass along a little trial and tribulation...

Customer had multiple problems, so we decided to format and reinstall Windows. Since her machine did not meet the recommended Vista or 7 specs (and she had no original Windows disk), I had to find a copy of XP. No easy task - after 4 local computer stores, I finally located an OEM XP Home SP3...

I was able to salvage her pictures, tax records, etc., and the format went smoothly. Installed XP, and after the first reboot, Windows gave me a frightening warning: "CRC error - vital files could not be copied from the disk"...the corrupted data in question was the ASMS section of i386 - a group of folders necessary for the installation of XP...

My first thought was a damaged hard drive, so I installed another drive in the machine and and started over. Same thing happened. This ain't good. My next thought was a bad optical drive, so I used another. Same symptoms. Replaced the IDE cable, to no avail. Disabled all peripherals (sound, NIC, toned down motherboard turbo settings, etc.), same situation...

Yikes - I'm in trouble...

So, I applied old Occam's Razor: I started over with my personal XP Home SP2 disk. The install went through without a hitch - the new XP disk must be corrupt! This was the first time in 35 years of computer experience that I had seen a faulty Windows disk, but there it was...

And herein lay my dilemma: the new disk was an OEM disk, not retail, and the receipt was clearly marked "No Return". I was sure that the store would not exchange the disk, because of the possibility that I might be trying to get over on them (it would be very easy for someone to buy a disk, install and activate Windows, then return the disk for a replacement or refund)...

My fears were unjustified, however - the store gave me a replacement, but they were adamant that the disk was not the problem, that XP SP3 must not be compatible with the machine, even though I explained that I was able to install another disk (they gave some line about the SP3 code not meshing with the machine's setup). They said that I could install my XP, but use the new product code, that all the disks are exactly the same, that Microsoft only cared that I use a valid product code, yada-yada...

I brought the new disk home, formatted again, and installed Windows XP SP3, no problems. I then called the computer store, warned them that the returned disk was indeed corrupt, and suggested that they not try to baffle customers with BS...

The moral of this story: if you use proper troubleshooting techniques, and are convinced that your conclusions are correct, then stick by your guns, despite what the so-called "experts" might suggest...

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