I'mn trying to load a copy of Win98 onto a mates old pc and get the following proble while loading: setup has detected the following decoding error "setup has detected a corrupt setup (.cab) file."

 

Does anyone know if this points to the cd or the actual pc. I tried to load a copy of win95 and got the same thing. I formatted the frive before starting each time.

 

Thanks

 

Vijay

"cab" files are Microsoft compressed archives (like their own type of 'zip' archives), so that error's saying that it can't read the particular cab file for some reason.

 

I would have said that its a bad CD, but for the fact that you also got this when installing the other OS - presumably off a different CD?

 

If that's the case, then since you formatted the hard disk before each attempt, I'd hazard a guess that there may be bad sectors on the hard disk, and the cab file is getting repeatedly copied onto them before it comes to be used. To be honest that sounds a bit unlikely though.

 

Does the error specify what file was in use? If so, try copying that off the CD onto the hard disk first. This might show if it can be read off the CD at all. Also you might be able to tell Setup to get the file from the disk instead of the CD when the time comes.

 

Raz

 

If its a CAB file error its the CD.

No when you format a Hard Drive it automatically detects for bad sectors and will miss out on using them in the installation. To me its 100% a bad CD. Try cleaning it, or copy the WIN98 dirctory of the CD onto the Hard Drive first.

Also try cleaning the CD. Put a little bit of perfume or aftershave on the underside of the CD get a clean dry cloth and wipe from the inside outwards, not in circles or all the way round, wipe it along the radius so to speak.

 

If that dont work you need a new CD.

 

 

Stuart

If you had a similar problem with another OS then it could be your CD-Rom drive not reading the data correctly.

 

Copy the files to a directory on the 'C' drive and install it from there.

 

Herman