hardware problem

I have been trying to install windowsXP on a computer. It gets to the point of install after the first reboot and says cant copy some files. (retry, ignore, stop) that nagging problem. Usually gets 52% percent done.

I then tried a linux boot cd which started the GUI install and stopped at the error it could not mount VFS I have tried many things to get this computer working.

MB - SY-KT400 Dragon Ultra (Platinum)
Mem - 512 DDR 266mhz pc2100 (tried in all 3 slots)
HD - Maxtor 122Gig (also tried a 1.6 and 2.5g hds
VDeo - Radeon 9200 128mb ddr
CD - 48x burner Generic

I have also tried the I386 trick by copying everything from the cd to the hd and try the install from there with no luck.

the bios is updated, Currently set to fail safe settings. I have tried other settings as well. I think its hardware because Linux wouldnt even work. Your help would be appreciated. thank you.

You might try a different CD drive just in case it's having a read problem.

I tend to agree on the bad hardware. Try new RAM, then video. It could also be mobo. I'm leaning toward RAM then mobo being the problem.

I have tried 4 different cd drives ranging from speed of 4x - 32x. same problem. Going to get new ram and try that..

So even though the motherboard can read everything else and detect everything else, it could be the motherboard?

What do you mean can read everything else and detect everything else? Your post said you're 0 for 2 on OS installations on this computer, so something isn't getting read/detected properly.

Yes, it could be the motherboard. It could be an obscure little feature that is bad, that feature only gets used at a certain point during the installation, and then it crashes.

I had a computer that came in with what looked like a bad harddrive. Blue screen error: Data could not be written to C: drive, data may be lost. Scandisk on the drive showed bad sectors.

I went through several harddrives and windoze reinstallations before I realized that the harddrive wasn't bad, the motherboard was. Replace the mobo and it is still running today, with the original harddrive.

if you are overclocking, might want to go into the bios load setup defaults, make sure pnp os is off, might also want to check for a bios update.

I have tried safe default, will check to see if PnP is off, I think it is, Have a new MB on the way, different brand.. a ASUS hope those are better then soyo who I cant at times even get to there website.