10:06 AM Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Yesterday a guy asked me to upgrade his computer from Win98 to WinXP. I had to run the install 4 time before I could get it to install.
The error message being displayed was a Fatal error after getting so far into the install without a hitch, actually if I remember correctly it was almost finished. I switched to another CD but still no luck.
The following is the error message being displayed.
Installation Failed:
c:\$win_nt&.~ls\i386\asms
The manifest file does not begin with the required tag and format information.
Found some info about others having similar problems:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1041476293
I tried four different CDs but was convinced it was the Burner on the computer that was interfering. If it didn't work the last time I was going to have to install a separate CD-DRIVE to use instead of the burner. Luckily, I didn't have to go that far.
I didn't think my CDs where bad. And after successfully getting Windows installed, I had to setup a few programs and games. I had a lot of trouble doing that because the burner would not read half of the Cds that I had. I'm convinced my problems installing was because of a faulty CD burner.
It's been a couple of hard weeks on computers around here for some reason. First a person I know had there motor burn up, completely ruining there motherboard - they went and bought a new computer.
Then another person had a similar problem. In this case I was able to transfer everything like the hard drive, add in cards, etc., to another case. I ran a repair install of WinXp and was able to salvage the hard drive and all the data on it.
And then still another person came to me with what she suspected was a virus problem. She was right. There was some that I was able to manage to get rid of. There was a minor infection from a rogue malware program called Malwarebell.com
IN this case she didn't actually download the program but had this message popping up every now and then that claimed she had a virus and to click on Yes to download and install some protection. If you clicked on Yes, you would have been taken to a site to buy the full program, which basically doesn't work anyway. Its one of those programs that gives false positives. That is it claims to find infections that are not there in an attempt to get you to buy there product.
If you have that problem removal instructions here:
http://www.spyware-techie.com/malwarebell-or-malwarebell-32-removal-guide/
http://www.pchubs.com/blogs/malwarebell-removal-process-remove-malwarebell-or-malwarebell-32
Another problem I have noticed is that the motor on the computer was overheating because the fan on the motor was not working. I've warned them about this problem before. I'm convinced that they will eventually be calling me telling me that their motor burned up. I hope it just don't ruin the rest of their computer. Its a P4 system.
Also, a overheating computer can act like its infected with a virus or spyware. Freezing up, restarting unexpectedly, and so on.
All of this and it's only Wednesday.