reinstall XP from upgrade XP SP3 disk

[Disable keyboard shortcuts.]

I have been helping a friend via phone and email to get her old computer
working again. She replaced it with a new Win 7 machine. She wanted to
clean off all of her old files on the old one and reinstall XP. She had a XP
SP3 CD (authentic). She cleaned the hard drive by wiping with Part Wizard.
Then inserted the XP CD and restarted. Nothing. I then learned that it was
an Upgrade, and apparently is not bootable. Checked the bios and CD drive is
listed first. What can/should I do to get the Upgrade installed? She wants
to give the old one to a kid and it needs to be working, of course.
Appreciate any suggestions. Thanks, Roving

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

The CD is an Upgrade disk or she'd originally upgraded the computer to
WinXP?

 

[Daave]

I have been helping a friend via phone and email to get her old
computer working again. She replaced it with a new Win 7 machine.
She wanted to clean off all of her old files on the old one and
reinstall XP. She had a XP SP3 CD (authentic). She cleaned the hard
drive by wiping with Part Wizard. Then inserted the XP CD and
restarted. Nothing. I then learned that it was an Upgrade, and
apparently is not bootable. Checked the bios and CD drive is listed
first. What can/should I do to get the Upgrade installed? She wants
to give the old one to a kid and it needs to be working, of course.
Appreciate any suggestions. Thanks, Roving

Unfortunately, "XP SP3 CD (authentic)" tells us absolutely nothing. And
then you say you "then learned that it was an Upgrade."

From this limited amount of info, I'll take a stab and guess you are
describing the Service Pack 3 Upgrade CD. This CD is not bootable,
correct. Your friend would need an XP installation CD and appropriate
matching license/Product Key. Or maybe this PC that has not been
identified has a recovery partition on the hard drive. If so, that would
be the easiest way to lay down a fresh install of Windows XP. Oops, I
just re-read your post. If the entire drive was wiped, then so was the
recovery partition. :-(

But without any real info, the above is just a bunch of guesses!

Maybe this site will be helpful if she is looking for a recovery CD for
her specific make/model of PC:

http://www.restoredisks.com/

 

[Disable keyboard shortcuts.]

Thanks to each of you for your reply. I apologize for not having all of the
specifics of the computer that I would have had had I had it at my home. The
CD that she has is the XP SP3 Upgrade disk, and it is not bootable as one of
you agrees. The only choice is to install an original XP, then do the
upgrade. She bought this used and doesn't have the original XP installation
disk(s). I'll just have to see what we can do in that regard, or let the
person that gets it worry about getting an operating system installed on it.
She formatted it assuming that the XP SP3 disk would do the trick, and of
course it won't. Again thanks to each of you for your time and excellent
assistance.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

...She bought this used and doesn't have the original XP

installation disk(s).

There may be a hidden Recovery partition (not to be confused with System
Restore) you/she would use to return the computer to OOBE (as it left the
factory) state.