Cant reinstall windows after mobo and cpu change.

[leigh6]

Hi all,

My windows xp cd is not being accepted. Windows says it is older than the already installed OS.

I assume this is happening because I have SP2 on the computer and my disc has sp1.

Any suggestions?

Would like to do a clean install.

Thanks, Leigh

 

[bovinda]

Do you mean it won't even let you get to the installation menu of the XP CD? Try repartitioning the hard drive with the XP CD and then doing a clean install, maybe? What steps have you taken so far, exactly?

 

[MrBond]

Yeah, just boot from the CD and install it into another directory on your c: drive. That way (assuming you keep your progams all on your c: drive) you won't lose your programs and can migrate things over. If you're not worried about that, just format C: with the XP install CD and reinstall the OS.

 

[ryanv12]

I had that exact problem when I tried to upgrade my younger brother's computer. I ended up slipstreaming SP2 onto a disc using my computer. There's a thread in the operating system forum that will provide a link on how to do that.

edit -

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=34&threadid=1612408&enterthread=y

 

[BFG10K]

When it detects Windows tell the installer to format C:\ and install a new copy.