[Brenda6072]

I need to re-install Windows XP. Should I unistall everything on the computer first??

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If you choose press esc to install without repairing XP will format the drive, which will clear everything from the drive, then it will install and leave you with a PC which has XP and nothing else, so you can install whatever after this

So before clearing the drive, make sure you have backed everything up, and have the software and drivers for the soundcard, video card, printer etc

This is for XP Home

http://www.theelderg...l_-_graphic.htm

[Retired Tech]

If you choose press esc to install without repairing XP will format the drive, which will clear everything from the drive, then it will install and leave you with a PC which has XP and nothing else, so you can install whatever after this

So before clearing the drive, make sure you have backed everything up, and have the software and drivers for the soundcard, video card, printer etc

This is for XP Home

http://www.theelderg...l_-_graphic.htm

[Brenda6072]

Thank you Keith

[Brenda6072]

Well I have been trying to re-install XP since yesterday and its not working. At the Dell screen I press F12 like the book says, then I arrow down to IDE CD ROM because the book says to choose the CD ROM and that's the only one to choose from. The book says that when the "Press any key to boot from CD appears" press any key, well that never comes up and it just go to the Windows XP Screen then straight to sign in. I can't seem to figure out why the instructions that I have are not working. Any help would be great.
Thanks

[gerryf]

Brenda, that is the boot menu, and I am not certain why it is not working.

Try setting the boot order in bios by tapping f1, f2, or del (try each as each PC differs)

Look for Boot order

What kind of Dell is this?

[Retired Tech]

Boot the PC and keep tapping the delete key until it enters set up, look for boot order / priority and change it to CD ROM then Hard drive, press F10 to save and exit, type Y to confirm, put the XP CD in the CD ROM Drive, press enter, look for press any key, press enter

You may need to press F1 or F2 to enter set up

[Brenda6072]

I went into setup F2, changed the boot order saved the changes inserted the XP CD and pressed enter and the same thing happened, nothing went straight to the log in screen.

[Retired Tech]

Do you see press any key

Boot the PC and keep tapping enter

[Brenda6072]

No I have never seen "Press any key" When I boot the PC should I have the XP CD in?

[Retired Tech]

Yes, because Windows is now checking the drives in the order you changed it to, if it does not see anything in any CD ROM Drives it will continue to the hard drive and load Windows as usual

[Brenda6072]

I have 2 CD Drives, on is the DVD and the other is the CD-RW Drive which is the I have been using. Am I correct in using this drive??

[Retired Tech]

It should check all of them, if nothing happens with the XP CD in one drive, boot the PC with the XP CD in the other drive

You can start tapping enter as soon as you start to boot the PC

Whichever drive you use to install Windows, continue to use the same drive to install any other programmes and drivers

[Brenda6072]

I checked the boot sequence again and it goes like this. 1.IDE CD-Rom Device 2. Hard Disk Drive C 3. Diskette Drive.
I went ahead and did what you had said by pressing enter as its booting up, but it just went to the MS XP screen.

[Brenda6072]

Keith,
I got a screen on the desktop that said welcome to MS-Xp what would you like to do? Install XP, Install Optional Window Components, Perform addt'l tasks or Check system compatibility. What do you suggest?

[Retired Tech]

If you click install it will likely say Windows is installed and you will probably end up with two versions of XP because it will not format the active Operating System

If you are wiping the drive of all programmes and data you could use this

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Dariks Boot and Nuke (DBAN) runs from a bootable CD or Floppy disk, and securely deletes (wipes) the entire content of the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect. The program is perfect for cleaning a computer before giving it away or selling it. You are downloading an ISO file, that needs to be burned to a CD. There is also a floppy version available

That would put you in the position of nothing on the drive, though Windows will want to format as part of the install, with Nuke and Boot set it to repeat a dozen or so times, and then with XP format, use the default NTFS long, (not quick) format