New Hard Drive and Trouble Loading Office 2003

[JLGblg]

I recently installed a new 160GB hard drive. I used the Seagate utility
program to transfer all files from the old HD to the new HD. Immediately
afterword, I purchased 2003 Office and tried to install. It keeps aborting
the install because my computer seems to no longer want to read .cab files.
It's not just Office 2003 either. I have that problem with other software I
try to load also. I've already swapped out my Office 2003 disc once at the
retailer, but keep having the same problem. Any ideas?

 

[Susan Ramlet]

Have you tried repairing your operating system installation to restore the
file associations?

 

[JLGblg]

Yes I have. Since I posted the original question I have tried repairing the
OS, I've formatted the new HD and reinstalling Windows from scratch, I've
replaced the CD drive, I've removed the new HD and tried installing on my old
HD, I've reformatted my old HD and reinstalled Windows on it, I've removed
the new RAM I had installed thinking maybe my RAM was defective. Every fix I
try leaves me in a worse spot. What I'm left with now is a computer with
Windows installed on two HDs, and nothing else. I've tried installing other
programs and some will and some won't install. The common factor among the
software that will not load seems to be an inability to read .cab files.
It's just crazy. I can't even begin to understand what might be going wrong
and don't have a clue what to do next. I'm almost afraid to try anything
else for fear that the computer stop working altogether.

 

[DanW]

ok, here's a silly question. After you loaded the OS, did you do any o
the updates before trying to load OFFICE

 

[garfield-n-odie]

While your diagnosis may be correct that the problem is "an
inability to read .cab files", can you quote exactly and
completely for us the error messages you see on your screen?

 

[JLGblg]

SP1 installed just fine. I downloaded SP2, but it won't install.

 

[JLGblg]

Please read my response to garfield-n-odie. The problem has been resolved.

 

[JLGblg]

I can't believe it. I just "fixed" the problem, whatever the heck it was. I
changed the settings in the virtual memory to "System managed size". That's
the only change I made. Office 2003 just loaded like there had never been a
problem. I'm going to try installing SP2 now and see if it makes it through
the install without failing halfway through.