check to make sure you DON'T have WINRAR from rarlabs.org installed!!!!
Winrar, the greedy *******
(excuse my language) associates itself with .cab files. Whenever crysis installation is trying to read the .cab files, winrar keeps interferring, thinking it knows better.
Anyway, I kept having this same error when trying to install on xp or vista 64. I kept pulling my hair out; my crysis installation disk is on an external hard drive, backed up from ea download manager so I don't have to redownload when I format.
Anyway, I KNEW the files were NOT corrupt and nothing was wrong with them; so, I was pulling my hair out trying to reintall crysis over and over again, getting the error at different points of the installation. I was sitting there, staring at the cab files, checking them to make sure they were accessible when I noticed, in the description, it said "winrar archive". At This point, I knew it had to be winrar as, everytime something associated with winrar is accessed, winrar interferes.
So, I uninstalled WINRAR and NO MORE PROBLEMS!! I'm sure this is your problem because the Crysis patch is usually in a winrar .rar file archive wherever you download it!!
The reason the USB way might have worked for some is winrar didn't have time to interfere on the jump drive