Applications fail to "Setup" under XP

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Guest

I've just re-built my PC with XP SP2 for the third time in a week. Each time
after I get up and running I start to install standard programs like Office,
Picasa etc and then "setup" of a new App just fails to complete. I can see
the setup process in the task manager but it just sits there. So far I have
failed on the setup of skype, picasa and printer software. Once a setup has
failed then I can install no more software at all - all just get an hourglass
for 5-10 seconds and then the cursor goes back to an arrow. The PC is quite
usable with all that has been installed prior to the failure.

Any ideas? Not sure where to look next.

Thanks
 
Jonh said:
I've just re-built my PC with XP SP2 for the third time in a week. Each
time
after I get up and running I start to install standard programs like
Office,
Picasa etc and then "setup" of a new App just fails to complete. I can
see
the setup process in the task manager but it just sits there. So far I
have
failed on the setup of skype, picasa and printer software. Once a setup
has
failed then I can install no more software at all - all just get an
hourglass
for 5-10 seconds and then the cursor goes back to an arrow. The PC is
quite
usable with all that has been installed prior to the failure.

Any ideas? Not sure where to look next.

Thanks
Click to expand...

What do you mean by "re-built"? Do you mean that you did a clean installs,
startint with partitioning and formatting the disk, or repair installs,
or....?

It's harder to tell where you actually are with this without that
information.

You might also have a look at the Event logs.

HTH
-pk
 
Thanks Patrick,

I "re-built" by booting from an original XP disc, reformatted the c: drive,
so doing a totally fresh install. Then upgraded to XP SP2. First installed
Norton OK, then Office, then Picasa (Google picture management software),
then iRiver (iPod lookalike MP3 player software) and DVDShrink. All OK - then
tried to add skype and it didn't install.

When I run the exe the cursor goes to the hourglass for about 5 seconds and
then goes back to the standard arrow. The Install "Wizard" doesn't show at
all. Task manager shows a skypesetup process in existance but it has no CPU
usage against it. Couldn't see any errors in event management.

I tried to install in Safe Mode and got a pop up that implied the Windows
Installer Service wasn't running. Checked this and saw that it wasn't
started but wasn't allowed to start it in Safe Mode. So went back to normal
mode and Started it but it made no difference.

This was my third re-build. On number 2 I tried not applying XP SP2 and
again was able to load a few things until it died trying to load Picasa.

Not sure where to look next but grateful for any ideas.

Thanks - J
 
Still hoping for some help on this - I've looked at a zillion similar threads
which all seem to point to Windows Installer issues so I have reregistered
it, deleted itand re-downloaded etc etc all to no avail. Wondering if it
could be a hardware fault?

Currently think I will have to buy a new PC which seems like a bit of
overkill for such a basic problem (though I guess my kids will be happy!).

Thanks
 
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