HELP!!! I Can't format drive and install WinXP!!!

[DefRef]

My g/f gave her old PC to her brother when she got a new one. It's an P3-700 on an Abit BH6 mono with 386MB RAM and a puny 6.4GB HD, but since he's never had a PC before and is only going to be on MySpace and stuff, it's enough for his needs.

Some friend of his reinstalled WinXP Home SP2 over the existing install (Why? I have no effing idea.) and because he didn't have the right key and was too lazy to look it up, used a key gen to install and then cracked the activation. Well, I get the call that bro is locked out of the PC because it's demanded to be activated before it'll let him log in and when the Activation window comes up, it says that it's already activated. Lovely Catch-22.

I've got the PC and for some reason, even after fixing the boot order, it won't boot off the CD drive. It still has a floppy and I tried to use a Win98 boot disk to load it and it wouldn't run the WinXP install - either saying it won't run in DOS or giving an error that there's no place for a swap file. By logging into a Safe Mode command prompt, I was finally able to get a Repair install going but after that, it still had the same Activation problem.

I want to format the hard drive and then install a legal copy of WinXP Home that I've got. Nothing flashy, just a clean install. HTF can I do that when everything is geared to booting off the CD? I can't make a WinXP floppy set because my PC doesn't have a floppy drive. The other PC can't boot off a USB key. How can I make this happen?

TIA!


[edited to prevent assumptions]

 

[Lopyswine]

you aren't going to get help in these forums when you are talking about cracking and generating keys....

i have always found the easiest way to format drives thataren't booting from CD is to physically take the drive and slave it onto a computer that you know works. then just format it from there and put it back into the new box.

 

[DefRef]

I'm not asking for help with cracking and keys, I'm trying to undo the damage this idiot did by installing a legit copy of XP.

While there are plenty of punks here who gleefully brag about warezing games because they're too cheap to pay for them, I'm not one of them and your presumption isn't appreciated. :|

 

[Navid]

What if instead of changing the boot order, you remove the hard drive from the list so that there is only the CD on the list?
By the way, if you do this right when you reboot and boot from the CD, it will ask you to press a key to boot from it. If you do not press a key, it will not boot from the CD. So, may be you were not looking at the screen.

 

[DefRef]

I don't have a boot option that allows for no hard drive and if I disable the IDE channel, how can I install to the drive. No, I haven't missed the prompt to press a key to boot from CD. This sucks. I could strangle the idiot who pooched this in the first place. :|

Can't I format C: from the boot disk?

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: DefRef
I don't have a boot option that allows for no hard drive and if I disable the IDE channel, how can I install to the drive.

No, I did not mean that you disable IDE.

Can't I format C: from the boot disk?

Even if you can, you will still need to boot from the XP CD after in order to install XP!


Remove the hard drive from the PC and install it on yours. Format the hard drive so that there is non virus left. Copy the XP CD on the hard drive. I think there is a wy to install XP from hard drive. I have never done it. You need to find out more information about it to know where you need to copy the XP CD and how to initiate the XP install.
Then, remove the hard drive and put it back in the original PC and install from hard drive.

Not being able to boot from CD is not good and may come back to haunt you.

 

[DefRef]

I'm just curious as to why it's not booting to the CD. It has support and should work. Weird.

 

[Navid]

Have you tried another boot CD. May be the CD is damaged.

By the way, this is one site that I found in a few seconds on Google for installing XP from the hard drive.
http://www.tech-recipes.com/windows_installation_tips578.html

 

[DefRef]

It appears that it's installed now. I was able to boot into Safe Mode and then run the setup in a manner that deleted the old Windows folder and reinstalled everything. I had to DL the NIC drivers on my PC and transfer them via pokey USB - this only has v1.1 USB - but it finally ran. Thanks for trying, though.