[fishygirl831]

I bought a new hard drive for my Dell and tried to reinstall Windows XP on it. The same error message keeps popping up that the installation cannot be completed. It says the signature for windows XP setup is invalid and the error code is 80096001. I have been researching online and I think that the startup is trying to restart the setup that went bad, but I don't know how to get it to stop. I've tried booted from the CD and it goes back to the same blue screen that says 39 minutes remaining. I don't know what else to do....Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also....I'm not very good with computers so if you can spell it out to me, I'd appreciate that too....

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is this a retail copy of xp...if so...tell it to format the drive first...

Insert your Windows XP installation disc into your CD drive...

Now as you computer boots a little more it will say “Press any key to boot from CD..” press a key to do so.

The CD will load up a blue screen and then spend a while loading files it needs. When it is finished it will list a few options, mainly “Press ENTER to set up Windows XP.” Press Enter or Return.

Now you will be at a screen to select where to install Windows to. This is where you can delete old partitions and format drives. The box in the bottom half of the screen shows all your drives and the partitions that exist on them. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to highlight your “C:” partition and press the 'D' key (if all that shows up is “Unpartitioned space” and you have no C: or D: partitions, skip this step). On the next screen press the 'L' key to finalize deleting the partition.

Now you are back on the screen to choose where to install Windows. The box on the lower half of the screen should no longer show a partition but simply have an entry “Unpartitioned space xxxxxMB.” Select this with the arrow keys and press the 'C' key to create a partition on the drive. The next screen tells you the minimum and maximum sizes the partition can be and lets you pick the size. The default size is the maximum, but double check that the number entered is the maximum and hit enter.

Now you will again be back at the choose where to install Windows screen. But this time you will have a partition that looks something like this “C: Partition1 [New (Raw)]xxxxxxMB.” Highlight this entry and press enter.

The next screen lets you choose which file system to format the drive with. Choose NTFS as it is faster and more secure. If the drive is brand new and has never been used before then use one of the options that ends in “(Quick).” Or, choose one of the lower down options. Use the arrow keys to select the proper one and press Enter or Return.

From here you are all set and the installation of Windows will proceed starting with a format of your drive. This will take a while
nojoy...
you can connect the drive to another computer as a slave and format it ..then reinstall the drive and try again..
make sure you unplug the computers from the wall before removing and reinstalling the drives..

[happyrock]

is this a retail copy of xp...if so...tell it to format the drive first...

Insert your Windows XP installation disc into your CD drive...

Now as you computer boots a little more it will say “Press any key to boot from CD..” press a key to do so.

The CD will load up a blue screen and then spend a while loading files it needs. When it is finished it will list a few options, mainly “Press ENTER to set up Windows XP.” Press Enter or Return.

Now you will be at a screen to select where to install Windows to. This is where you can delete old partitions and format drives. The box in the bottom half of the screen shows all your drives and the partitions that exist on them. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to highlight your “C:” partition and press the 'D' key (if all that shows up is “Unpartitioned space” and you have no C: or D: partitions, skip this step). On the next screen press the 'L' key to finalize deleting the partition.

Now you are back on the screen to choose where to install Windows. The box on the lower half of the screen should no longer show a partition but simply have an entry “Unpartitioned space xxxxxMB.” Select this with the arrow keys and press the 'C' key to create a partition on the drive. The next screen tells you the minimum and maximum sizes the partition can be and lets you pick the size. The default size is the maximum, but double check that the number entered is the maximum and hit enter.

Now you will again be back at the choose where to install Windows screen. But this time you will have a partition that looks something like this “C: Partition1 [New (Raw)]xxxxxxMB.” Highlight this entry and press enter.

The next screen lets you choose which file system to format the drive with. Choose NTFS as it is faster and more secure. If the drive is brand new and has never been used before then use one of the options that ends in “(Quick).” Or, choose one of the lower down options. Use the arrow keys to select the proper one and press Enter or Return.

From here you are all set and the installation of Windows will proceed starting with a format of your drive. This will take a while
nojoy...
you can connect the drive to another computer as a slave and format it ..then reinstall the drive and try again..
make sure you unplug the computers from the wall before removing and reinstalling the drives..

[AmCiAn]

happyrock,

Thanks for the info, I had the same error installing Windows XP. Your help and detailed explanation is very much appreciated!

It's sad that some people come here with their problems, get help, and never return to leave a little thank you!

Cheers,
AmCiAn

[Polypineer]

Thank you Happyrock!!!

I'd been battling with this installation for about 12 hours. The fix was easy, fast and perfect!