Windows XP Installation Failure - "The Parameter is Incorrect"

Windows XP installation can fail with a very cryptic message "The Parameter is Incorrect." This can be a very frustrating problem, because there is no indication what failed, or what to do about it. I have personally had this problem twice, with different machines. My original assumption was that the CD was broken (Microsoft provided the CD as an ISO download instead of a physical disk). As it turns out, I was wrong; the problem was the CDROM/DVD drive. Swapping the drive fixed the problem.

Whilst this error message can be caused by a number of different problems, changing the CDROM drive is worth checking first. If a bad/cheap drive is not the issue, then more ideas can be found by searching the internet for "The parameter is incorrect windows xp installation". This link provides a range of possible problems and solutions.