Ok, I know this is outside of the norm for this page, I don't really care.
Backstory: I buy things from estate auctions on hi-bid. Nobody else bid on this so I got it for the minimum bid, $2.50 USD.
It was missing the hdd, and it was in a filthy barn.
Side note: auctions are generally "as-is, where is" that means you pick these items up at the location of the estate, they usually pull things out and organize them, but they don't clean them or anything usually.
I have an extra IDE HDD, so I threw that in and tried to install Windows XP. I got errors halfway through saying "setup cannot copy the file:"
Then I got it to go all the way through, but it won't boot.
Then I got a system error that the HDD is not present.
I tried an IDE adapted SSD, still not recognized.
Then I got the HDD recognized again.
I figured I would check the ram: 1x 256MB. I threw in 2x512MB, that's a neat trick.
I also swapped out the cd drive since it was having a hard time opening up anyway.
Now I'm back to, "setup cannot copy the file:"
Maybe a bad CD burn? Idk, it's been awhile since I've done this.
Do you know, with absolute certainty, that the RAM and CD Drive are compatible with your laptop? Talking like manufacturer, model, capacity, speed, the whole shebang.
IMO the RAM is probably what is causing issues, I'd stick a single stick of comparable RAM back into the first slot and try again.
It was my spare drive causing the issues!
I figured out that I did not have the correct setting in the BIOS to enable drive 0 on the 1st ide bus. Then I kept having installation issues.
I swapped back the SSD and installation went flawlessly!
This is a desktop btw.
It is using IDE drives, no sata ports at all. The Ram is DDR 400MHz.
It doesn't even have an AGP slot, only 3x PCI slots with a 56k modem card in one of them.
Lmao, I wonder what kind of USB standard it uses.
Back in the day, I modded PS2s and preferred FTP for file transfers since the HDD and USB were slower than the LAN haaahaahaha
I'm glad you figured it out though, old tech can be a headache.