Deleting .inf files during XP Pro SP 3 install

Question

I've got a very old laptop that I use because it's the only thing I have left that has a standard 'Centronics' LPT port.

I had to dig it out again after it's had a few years gathering dust on the shelf. When I turned it on it failed to boot (Win XP Pro SP3).

It would boot in safe mode,but hung in normal mode. I recall that is why it was on the shelf....

I decided re-installing XP would be a good idea.

I formatted the disk and re-installed. It got stuck, frozen, during "Installing Devices" at about 34 minutes remaining. Now, I could find many others with the same issue via a Google search.

I did what was suggested, look at the logs and found that it was hanging when loading cpu.inf.

So, I did as suggested and deleted the offending cpu.inf . That fixed the problem! XP completed it's install and now seems to be working.

So to my question: What would deleting cpu.inf do? Why is it there if I don't seem to need it?

EDIT:
I know what deleting it did (past tense) I want to know what deleting it will do (future tense).

Answer 1

"What would deleting cpu.inf do? "

It prevents XP setup from installing the cpu driver during installation which caused your 34% hang, 34% is the stage when windows setup is installing device drivers.

" Why is it there if I don't seem to need it?"

Evidently XP detected your cpu improperly and tried to load the wrong driver, or it could not properly identify your CPU and just hung at that point, know way to know for sure exactly what caused it to hang at that particular driver.

Sometimes doing a clean re-install will get it installed without error, it was a one time anomaly.