It sounds like you still have a hardware problem somewhere. Installing Vista
may seem like it has cured something but the most likely thing is that the
hardware problem will bite you somewhere down the road. I'd figure out why
XP isn't installing before going any further. If you want to continue with
the Vista upgrade version without installing XP first you could try this
method. Note this is not a Microsoft supported method.
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...rade_clean.asp
--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca
"J. A. H." <J. A. H.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:AE34164C-5330-4CF9-8389-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Greetings,
>
> I purchased an OEM copy of Windows XP-SP2 with the Vista upgrade coupon.
> At
> the same time I purchased hardware to upgrade the computer, hard drive,
> memory,DVD and installed Windows XP. During the install some files would
> not
> copy. Although the install seemed to work I started to get the BSD often.
> I
> found a memory problem but the system still was not stable. I then
> replaced
> the motherboard, processor and ram and then did a clean install using the
> Vista upgrade. On first install I did not activate or use the product key
> but
> when I tried to activate I could not because I used the upgrade version. I
> then tried to install the original OEM version of XP but that refused to
> install.
> Can someone please tell me how I can get this resolved.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Joe