...

 

Boot from your XP CD-ROM and delete all your partitions, and then reformat the drive either using FAT 32 or NTFS

 

Sometimes if you have Windows Explorer open with that particular volume selected, it is considered in use. Try closing Windows Explorer or the Computer Management console and try again.

 

Armando, what are you smokin', man? NTFS is the only way to go! Especially for XP, 2000, and Server 2003.

 

WinXP does not have that option sadly enough...

 

I'm not too computer literate... how would I go about booting from the rom? The CD rom is in, I've browsed it, but don't see how to do this.

 

FAT32 is faster.

 

1) Turn your computer On

2) While your computer is going through the BIOS check, open your CD-ROM and insert the XP CD

3) A screen will appear saying "Press any Key to boot from CD..." (there is no any key on your keyboard, so press the space bar or something
)

Follow the onscreen instructions, and select that you would like to install XP.

Hope this helps

 

Screen didn't appear when I popped in the cd. I'll keep trying, maybe it's all about timing

 

Usually, when the computer boots up, will you see "Press F2..." to access the BIOS. Press that key quickly. When you get to the BIOS setup screen, you should be able to modify the boot sequence. Choose to boot the from the CD-ROM before the hard drive. Then save those options and exit. Your computer may reboot.

The next time around, you should be able to boot from your CD, provided that your recovery disk has a working OS on it.