Format hard drive with XP upgrade won't work because of "newer" ve

[Grace]

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer than
is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is speaking of is SP1
and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted? I've tried the
boot disks that Microsoft offers, after changing the BIOS to Floppy, of
course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the fact that the old
computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks won't recognize.)
{After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one carries floppies
anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand new that I made
the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above), after changing
the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)

 

[Chet]

Of great historical significance to all, Grace

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer
using my XP Home Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work.
However, when I try it, it states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on
this computer than is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is
speaking of is SP1 and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted?
I've tried the boot disks that Microsoft offers, after
changing the BIOS to Floppy, of course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the
fact that the old computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks
won't recognize.) {After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one
carries floppies anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand
new that I made the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above),
after changing the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)

You might find some assistance from Michael Stevens articles:

How do I format a NTFS/Fat/Fat32 drive with XP installed?
<http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/format_XP.htm>

Clean Install Windows XP
<http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html>

hth

 

[LVTravel]

In this case, you need to boot with the XP Upgrade CD, go through the setup
and have it delete the partition where the current installation is and then
have it create a new partition and format that.

Since the "installation" program that is running sees a newer version of XP
it doesn't want to delete a possible working OS.

 

[Grace]

Hi VanguardLH,

I do boot from the cd. This is the way I boot...just to make sure we're on
the same page.

restart computer, I have the XP Upgrade CD in the cdrom drive. When the
black screen with white letters is showing....

boot from cdrom...press any key to boot from cd

I press "Enter"

It then brings up (what looks like to me) to full program as usual.

(I have formatted several hard drives in the past, just not with XP on it.)

Thanks for trying to help!

 

[Grace]

Sorry, VanguardLH...
I was replying to LV Travel. I apologize.

In response to your advice, I can't even get to the correct setup area as
far as I can tell.

Even when i boot from the XP Upgrade CD...I still get what looks like the
entire program booting up. (I.e. I still get the blue screen with me and
all my kids icons to select from.) This doesn't seem right to me, but it
does sound like my computer is booting from the cd when I "press any key to
boot from cd."

 

[Grace]

Thank you, Chet. I have seen Micheal's pages yesterday, but my history did
not have it listed. Thank you for directing me here! I think I'm going to
try the Win98 boot disk.

 

[Grace]

Hi LVTravel,

Thank you for your help. I did boot with the XP Upgrade CD. I couldn't get
it to go through the setup. It stops before any setup can be done and tells
me that it can't continue due to the newer version running.

I do boot following the computer's instructions to "press any key to boot
from CD"

I press "Enter"...it then sounds like my computer is booting from my CD, but
it still brings up what looks like the normal Windows XP screen with mine and
my kids icons.

I think I'm going to attempt using the Win98 boot disk and try it that way.

Thanks so much.

 

[Jim]

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer
than
is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is speaking of is SP1
and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted? I've tried the
boot disks that Microsoft offers, after changing the BIOS to Floppy, of
course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the fact that the old
computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks won't recognize.)
{After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one carries floppies
anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand new that I made
the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above), after
changing
the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)

Upgrade from what to what?

The best explanation I have is that the CD is not bootable. The computer
would then boot from the hard drive.
To check this possibility, press Start. Enter cmd in the run box. When you
see the dos-like screen, enter:
SET.

This will display all of the environment variables, and the one you want to
look for is the location of the boot drive.
If this disk is C, then the cd is not bootable, and you are asking XP to
commit suicide, which it will not do.
Jim

 

[Grace]

Thanks for your help.

You asked: Upgrade from what to what?
I'm using the XP Upgrade CD simply because I do not have the plain XP
CD. I have the ME. I upgraded from ME. I've read...over and over
again...that I can reformat the hard drive using the XP Upgrade CD only.
(Although, I will need the ME CD to verify that I have the right to use it.)

Basically, it's my old computer that was running so slow it was driving my
whole family crazy. Fortunately, my wonderful son bought me a brand new
computer for Mother's day. So, I'm finally getting around to formatting the
hard drive on the old computer. I just want to format the hard drive to get
rid of everything, then reinstall XP on it.

Thank you for telling me how to check to see if the computer is really
booting off the CD. I've never needed to do this when I have formatted
drives in the past, so I didn't realize that I could check that. I'll check
it tomorrow when I'm working on it.

I can't believe how long this is taking me. I thought it was a "simple" -
format the hard drive and reinstall everything just as I've done in the past.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Grace]

Thank you! I was wondering about the USB keyboard! We noted when we tried
booting from the XP floppies that they keyboard commands weren't taking. (My
younger son was helping at this time.) He actually got all the 6 disks
through by carefully timing the changing of disks by the light on the floppy
drive. It was amazing to watch. However, when he got to the final disk ( I
knew this would happen), you have to give it a command from the keyboard and,
of course, they keyboard wouldn't give the command.

We've actually looked around the house for a non-USB keyboard. We haven't
found one yet, but maybe our neighbors might have one we could borrow. (Now,
why, oh why, did we get rid of all those keyboards lying around?)

Thank you for confirming my suspicion about the USB keyboard and explaining
why it isn't working!

 

[Rich/rerat]

Grace,
If the current working version of XP is SP2 or SP3. You need to create a new
CD with the XP Upgrade CD plus XP SP2 or SP3 installation file, by Slip
Streaming into the files on the upgrade CD.

Your Upgrade XP CD, may not contain any service Packs, or just XP SP1. So to
use the repair feature, you need to remove all updates, to the so that the
PC is running the same version of XP that the Upgrade CD is, or Uninstall
XP, to the point of earlier OS that you upgraded from.

Instructions on Slip Streaming XP SP2, this can be used to Slip Stream XP
SP3:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

As mentioned before, an alternative, would be to Delete, then recreate the
C:\ Partition, and reinstall XP fresh, and all other applications that you
have installed.

--
Add MS to your News Reader: news://msnews.microsoft.com
Rich/rerat (RRR News) <message rule>
<<Previous Text Snipped to Save Bandwidth When Appropriate>>


Hi LVTravel,

Thank you for your help. I did boot with the XP Upgrade CD. I couldn't get
it to go through the setup. It stops before any setup can be done and tells
me that it can't continue due to the newer version running.

I do boot following the computer's instructions to "press any key to boot
from CD"

I press "Enter"...it then sounds like my computer is booting from my CD, but
it still brings up what looks like the normal Windows XP screen with mine
and
my kids icons.

I think I'm going to attempt using the Win98 boot disk and try it that way.

Thanks so much.

 

[Grace]

Just wanted to let you know....

it was a USB keyboard that was causing the problem. Switched to an old
keyboard and it worked perfectly!

Thanks for your help!

 

[Grace]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You were right! It was the USB keyboard
causing the problems! (Well, I did uninstall SP2, Internet Explorer, and
Windows Media player prior to switching the keyboard.)

Switched keyboard this morning and it worked perfectly!!!!

Thanks so much!!!!

 

[Grace]

Just wanted you to knowi t was the USB keyboard causing the problems! (Well,
I did uninstall SP2, Internet Explorer, and Windows Media player prior to
switching the keyboard.)

Switched keyboard this morning and it worked perfectly!!!!

Thanks for your help!

 

[Grace]

Hi Rich,

I'm definitely going to take a look at the Slipstreaming XP on
winsupersite.com. The format is finally working. I'll look at this site for
the setup after the formatting is complete.

Vanguard figured out the problem...

It was the USB keyboard causing the problems! (Well, I did uninstall SP2,
Internet Explorer, and Windows Media player prior to switching the keyboard.)

Switched keyboard this morning and it worked perfectly!!!!

Thanks for your help!

Grace

 

[Grace]

Just wanted you to know it was the USB keyboard causing the problems! (Well,
I did uninstall SP2, Internet Explorer, and Windows Media player prior to
switching the keyboard.)

Switched keyboard this morning and it worked perfectly!!!!

Thank you for telling me how to check to see if the computer is booting from
the CD. I'll file that info away for the next time I need it.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Grace,
If the current working version of XP is SP2 or SP3. You need to create a new
CD with the XP Upgrade CD plus XP SP2 or SP3 installation file, by Slip
Streaming into the files on the upgrade CD.

No, this isn't correct. She's trying to do a clean installation. When
you do a clean installation, it begins by formatting the drive, and it
doesn't care at all what SP level is presently installed.

Her problem is occurring because she's trying to do the installation
from within Windows, rather than booting from the installation CD.
That's the wrong way to do it, and leads to the problem she's
experiencing.

She says below that she is trying to boot from the CD, but ends up
booting from the hard drive. Why that's occurring, I'm not sure.

 

[Jim]

Just wanted you to know it was the USB keyboard causing the problems!
(Well,
I did uninstall SP2, Internet Explorer, and Windows Media player prior to
switching the keyboard.)

Switched keyboard this morning and it worked perfectly!!!!

Thank you for telling me how to check to see if the computer is booting
from
the CD. I'll file that info away for the next time I need it.

Thanks for your help!

Your have found yet another reason that causes problems... Perhaps the BIOS
on your computer does not recognize a USB keyboard, but to add further
confusion, XP does.
Jim

 

[N. Miller]

Upgrade from what to what?

The best explanation I have is that the CD is not bootable. The computer
would then boot from the hard drive.

When I tried to upgrade Windows Me to Windows XP, the upgrade CD booted. The
problem I encountered is that the upgrade disk would not recognize an OEM
recovery CD as a valid upgrade path. I had to run the HP Recovery disks to
reinstall Windows Me (for some reason, after upgrading the system BIOS,
Windows Me would hang at the "Finding new hardware" pop-up window), and run
the upgrade CD from within a working installation of Windows Me. I am sure
that a retail box install disk for Windows Me would be recognized.

Given the amount of time Grace took to make things work, I just wonder,
considering that she wanted to run a clean install, if just reloading
Windows Me, and running the upgrade from within Windows Me wouldn't have
been faster.

 

[Chet]

Of great historical significance to all, Grace

Just wanted to let you know....

it was a USB keyboard that was causing the problem. Switched
to an old keyboard and it worked perfectly!

Thanks for your help!

Glad to hear you got it sorted out. Hope you have no further problems.