severe installation problem

my friend has recently constructed a new pc. however, it will not properly install windows.
during the copying files section of the setup, this error messsage appears:
SUWIN CAUSED AN ILLEGAL INSTRUCTION IN MODULE SETUPX.DLL AT 0017:0B94
we have tried several other versions of windows, windows xp professional and 2000 professional.
none of them install.
we have removed or tried components we know work except the motherboard and processor.
it is a p4 1.5Ghz on a abit bw7-RAID board.
any sugestions?

by the way, i was not entirely sure what forum to post this in, if you feel it is unnapropriate please move it.

Maybe give us a little bit more background on the problem. Are you doing clean installs (is the hard drive empty?) or are you installing updates? Give us complete system specs.

Just guessing, but maybe bad RAM? If you didn't swap it that is. Other than that, maybe some bad cables? Just offering possibilities.

Suwin Error in Setupx.dll During Windows 95/98 Setup

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The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95

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If this article does not describe the error message that you are receiving, view the following Microsoft Web site to view more articles that describe error messages:
<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/topics/errormsg/emresctr.asp" target="_blank">http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/topics/errormsg/emresctr.asp</a>


SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to upgrade Microsoft Windows 3.1 to Windows 95/98, you may receive the following error message:


SUWIN
An error has occurred in your application. If you choose ignore you should save your work in a new file. If you choose close, your application will terminate."

When you click Close, you may receive the following error message:

Application Error
SUWIN caused a general protection fault in module setupx.dll @ 0012:1346

CAUSE
This behavior can occur if you disable virtual memory in Windows 3.1 before you run Windows 95/98 Setup.

RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, enable virtual memory in Windows 3.1 before running Windows 95/98 Setup, or quit Windows to MS-DOS, and then run Setup from MS-DOS. To enable virtual memory in Windows 3.1 before running Windows 95/98 Setup, follow these steps:


In the Main group, open Control Panel and double-click 386 Enhanced.


Click Virtual Memory, and then click Change.


In the Type box, click Permanent or Temporary, and then click OK.

Additional query words: swap file suwin error setupx dll

Keywords : kberrmsg kbsetup kbgpf win95 win98
Issue type : kbprb
Technology : kbWin95search kbWin98search kbZNotKeyword3 kbWin98

Thanks for all the suggestions - as it turned out, flashing the bios seemed to cure the problem.
very unusual.