reinstalling XP

[Peter]

I've been running my copy of XP Pro SP2 for a long while now, and over
time it's developed a couple of glitches.

I'm about to replace my graphics card and stick some extra storage in,
and thought it might be the right time to completely reinstall XP -
maybe on one of the new, bigger hard drives.

I've googled, and everything starts with "insert XP CD". However, when
I do I get the message "the installation on your c omputer is newer
than the one you're instal;ling. Setup can't continue" (or words to
that effect.

What's the solution to this? And is it actually worth reinstalling
anyway ( some googled sites insist it is, others say not).

Help or advice appreciated

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Uninstall Service Pack 2, then run setup, then update back to SP2. (Without
SP2, be sure your firewall is on before going online.)

 

[kenkcj]

If you're wanting to "completely" reinstall XP, this is the right course of
action. However, I would strongly recommend saving any files that you don't
wish to lose (documents, e-mails, songs, and any random files you may have.)
From the point when it says that the installation on the computer is newer,
you will want to keep the cd in the tray, then click to restart the
computer. On boot, it should come up with a message "press any key to boot
from cd." From there, hit enter and you'll want to do a fresh install by
formatting the hard drive and installing a brand new copy on the hard drive
of your choice. From there, follow the steps provided by Mark Ferguson and
be sure to install SP2 right away. After installing SP2, download any
additional windows updates that have been released, then you can go through,
install all the programs you need and transfer your backed up files onto
your new installation.
Best of luck,
-kenkcj

 

[Peter]

If you're wanting to "completely" reinstall XP, this is the right course of
action. However, I would strongly recommend saving any files that you don't
wish to lose (documents, e-mails, songs, and any random files you may have.)
From the point when it says that the installation on the computer is newer,
you will want to keep the cd in the tray, then click to restart the
computer. On boot, it should come up with a message "press any key to boot
from cd." From there, hit enter and you'll want to do a fresh install by
formatting the hard drive and installing a brand new copy on the hard drive
of your choice. From there, follow the steps provided by Mark Ferguson and
be sure to install SP2 right away. After installing SP2, download any
additional windows updates that have been released, then you can go through,
install all the programs you need and transfer your backed up files onto
your new installation.
Best of luck,
-kenkcj

I've been running my copy of XP Pro SP2 for a long while now, and over
time it's developed a couple of glitches.

I'm about to replace my graphics card and stick some extra storage in,
and thought it might be the right time to completely reinstall XP -
maybe on one of the new, bigger hard drives.

I've googled, and everything starts with "insert XP CD". However, when
I do I get the message "the installation on your c omputer is newer
than the one you're instal;ling. Setup can't continue" (or words to
that effect.

What's the solution to this? And is it actually worth reinstalling
anyway ( some googled sites insist it is, others say not).

Help or advice appreciated

Thanks to you both. It sounds like a fairly laborious process. I'm
wondering if I could unplug my current drive C, install a fresh copy
of windows onto a new, bigger drive; plug the old drive back in, then
use the new windows to transfer files and reinstall programs; then
delete the old version once I knew everything was working ok.

Possible?

 

[kenkcj]

Peter,
The method you suggested would work quite well. You won't necessarily have
to uninstall windows on the old hard drive if you didn't want to though.
Simply unplug both hard drives, switching the jumper on the new hard drive
to master and the old hard drive to slave. That way your new hard drive can
be installed with windows and automatically boot into that version, compared
to your old hard drive. From there, you can access all of the files on your
old installation.
Best of luck,
-kenkcj