Reinstallation Win XP Home CD Won't Boot PC

[Jai]

Hello, I hope someone can help me, I've looked all around and haven't found
the answer. My PC has become so erratic, slow probably due to uninstalls,
etc. I've decided I should do a clean reinstall. I have all the original CDs
and the PC will not boot up with the CD. I changed the startup order on the
bios screen to launch via CD and that doesn't work. I ran setup.exe and get
an error message saying unable tomy CD is older than what I have on the PC.
I want to reinstall so I can start from scratch with new registry, folders,
etc. I have a Dell 4600, P4, NTFS, 3.20 Ghz, 512 MB ram. I bought the PC in
2002, did a reinstall in 2005 and it worked fine but had the help of a
warranty technician at that reinstall. I've spent hours hunting on the
internet trying to figure out what's wrong and am exhausted. I'd like my PC
to be as I obtained it. I've backed up all necessary files. Am I doing
something wrong? Can someone tell me how to resolve this? I tried to be
clear about this problem. Thank you very much...

 

[Leonard Grey]

"How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft® Windows® on a Dell™ Computer"
http://support.dell.com/support/top...E26A65A4388E4FE040AE0AB7E107E3&doclang=en&cs=

 

[DL]

FWIW I had the same issue with an old Dell, after many attempts it finally
booted from cd, I was never able to figure what the cause was.
I assume your cd is clean.
Do you have any other bootable cd to test with that?

 

[Jai]

Hi DL and thanks for responding.
CD appears to be clean, I can use it to "Add or Remove Programs" etc.
No I don't have another bootable CD... Ugghhhh...
I still have a few things hooked up (printer, cable modem). I don't see
where that would make a difference but an article someone linked me said to
unhook those. I'm going to try that now.
I knew this was going to be a pain in the arse but the CD not loading is
just plain ridiculous!

Jai
*******************

 

[Jai]

Hi Leonard and thanks for responding.
The link is great. The problem is I do not get the "Press any key to
boot from CD....." when rebooting from CD.
The only thing I haven't done which I will do so after sending this
message is disconnecting my printer and cable modem. I wouldn't think it
would make a difference but heck I'll give it a try.
I knew this was going to be a pain in the arse time-wise but the CD not
loading is just plain ridiculous!

Jai
*************

 

[nessguy]

i had the same probelem and could not get the windows disc to operate
correctly. although i am not on a Dell system i had to uninstall any updates
done since my last installation.. such as SP3 and other .net framework
packages in order for the, "your system has a more recent version than the
one provided on the disc" error to terminate.. i then altered the BIOS to
boot from CD and proceeded to install with minor issues.

however i am not scott free with probelems.. i have reinstalled all
components such as SP3 and the newest version of .Net framework package.
however whenever i attempt to install any of my drivers or any programs that
i have downloaded for that matter i get an ERROR corrupt file.. and this
happens on every download... am still searching for a solution for this ,but
i hope any information i have provided institutes a solution for your
probelems.... GL

 

[Jai]

Hi Nessguy and thanks for responding.

I finally got it down but literally spent hours trying to get that CD to
boot. I kept changing the bios but think I did something wrong -- I changed
the sequence in one place but had to change something else, I did it so many
times my head was spinning. I uninstalled my virus-type protections and
unplugged the non-essentials. Perhaps my registry was damaged, I cleaned it
maybe too many times.

Overall, it was extremely labor intensive. The reinstall did not go "by the
book," some steps came about in different ways. I upgraded to SP2 and it
seems to be ok right now, I still have to reinstall some programs.

In Windows Update, I did not get .NET Framework downloads whereas I got them
before. Also, I'm thinking of not installing SP3, not sure it's really
necessary. Maybe you should uninstall those?

Jai