My sis,s puter crashed. it says invalid system d***. She booted from a floppy she made for backup. & was able to run scandsk & fixdisk ( I beleive ). it says system is fine. she has windows ME ( pirated ) so has no boot disk. I found her windowsxp home sp2 for $86.14 from royal discounts, & having it dropshipped to Her. She will receive it wensday. question is. What & how should she install it. i cant remember how I did mine recently, But i think it gave me options, like clean install or something. She doesn,t care if she has to start fresh, all important data is backed up. But i,m 90% sure Her puter is badly infected. Any suggestions. I,ve allready searched this site & couldn,t find anything. Thanks in advance. Cowboy

Cowboy, it would be better to Install a fresh copy as you stated. All you do is delete the partition for Windows Me and then do a *Quick Formatt. Then after it's done with that it will copy the start up files to Install Windows and then you go from there. It will restart the computer and pop-up to pressing any KEY but DON"T press any key at that time. Windows will start up and Install and you will be Prompt to set-up Network, Name and Product key.

Thankyou New Age for the quick reply. When she installs the new disk will it give her that option to delete the partition for me. because Her puters perty much dead exept for being able to run scandsk. She cant even get into safe mode. I,m not tryin to be a pain. but as detailed instructions as possible would be appreciated. as i will have to walk her thru it over the phone. Thanks again. Cowboy

Well, ok.

Try this out and see if this helps.

Link - Go to step 3 and go on from there. make sure the computer is set within to Bios to boot from the CD.

Thanks again New Age. I assume the home & pro install the same. Talk about instructions for dummies. thats just what I needed . hehe, Thanks for your time. cowboy

I see New Age replied while I was typing this and pretty much said what I was going to say but I'll post this also [mainly since I type really slow and don't want to erase everything, lol].

If I remember right when I installed XP on my PC it did ask if it should do an upgrade [keeping old files and settings where possible] or a new install which wipes everything out and starts fresh. If she chooses new install it will probably ask to reformat the partition [meaning the entire hard drive if there's only one partition on it which is probably what she has]. That would be the best thing to do since she already has the files she wants to keep backed up and there may be infected files on there now. Just make sure she has the files backed up on to CDs or DVDs and not on the computer itself.

If it asks whether to use the NTFS file system or the FAT32 file system NTFS is better because it is more secure and supports more features than FAT32 does.

The only catch may be this and it could just be a problem with my PC so I don't know if it's something that will happen to her:

For some reason when I install or reinstall XP onto my PC it always puts up a message saying that it can not find a previous Windows installation on my computer and that I have to insert a Windows 98 or other Windows installation disk before the XP installation can continue. I don't know why that happens because I've always upgraded from Windows 98 or 95. Like I said I don't know if that's a common problem or only happens on my PC. Hopefully someone can answer that for me.

Windows XP does a pretty good job of guiding people through the installation and usually there should be no problems that pop up. Here are two sites you may want to look at for more info:

Microsoft

TheEldergeek

Let us know if you think of any questions.

Your very welcome. Home and pro. are pretty much the same beside the OS themselves. They are alittle different but I'm not getting into that

Have a nice day.


Mike Rochip,

Thx though. I'm a faster typer then you so... yeah. You did your part well. I believe what you were talking about you either had Windows 2000 Professional or Windows ME or even 98SE. You might of been using an upgrade version which is a tad bit defferent but anyways he got what he needed.

i was always told to do a full format, not quick.
whats the difference?

Their is no difference although my friend who is an IT Professional told me Full format is just to make sure EVERYTHING is deleted or removed. Quick is a most used choice as it doesn't take as long

I just saw the site New Age recommended. That's the best installation guide I've seen for XP. Now I wish I didn't type my long, stupid post . Just kidding but his site does look like it's a lot better and easier to understand than the ones I recommended.

She can get a bootdisk from bootdisk.com

You sure XP will run on her computer?

Thanks to all . & mike you really did answer a question i forgot to ask about the file system. I remember I was confused when i got to that on mine. luckily I chose the one you recommended. She has the fat 16/32 or whatever so I,m sure She,ll be able to choose the other also . & thanks for Yer help. Eldmannen. She cant get that if her puters down. & no I,m not sure she can use it. but if not next step is a newr puter. The thing that pi***s me off. someone on this site told me where to get the cheap CD. & My puter crashed before I could. I paid 199.00 for the same thing locally , i,m getting Her for $86.00. But when you cant get online, You cant buy online. But thanks for the suggestion. I copyed all of it & am just gonna snail mail them to Her. Cowboy

What's the specs. of your sis. computer? A computer to run Xp must have atleast 128MB of RAM but I recommend 256 or even 512MB at most. 600mhz will do for CPU speed.

Then make a bootdisk you, it is better than waste $86.00 when all you need is a bootdisk.

From what I've read on this forum over the last year or so I was under the impression that ANY reason to get rid of Windows ME is a good one ...

Windows ME was more of a flaw. It was a mistake to EVER to be released.

I think someone once said that Windows ME is some kind of horrible mutation that was created when an evil, demented scientist tried to combine parts of Windows 98 with Windows NT .

I humbly apologise in advance to anyone that uses and loves Windows ME and is willing to admit it in public.

Shoot! I'd roll back to 98SE...

Once again Thankyou to all. for the responces & help. I,m not sure if You caught the part. Its a pirated version of ME. Puters old. & If You cant get on the internet to download BOOT DISK of any kind Yer perty much screwed. I,m trying to help Her get a legal copy of the latest stuff microsoft has to offer. & itrs much cheaper than what I paid. its Our only lifeline , as far as email goes. We live way far away. Plus I,ve allready pi***d of more money on long distance phone calls. tryin to help Her get it back online. Mainly cuz I have no clue what I,m doing. untill I found this site. But Thanks again & I dont really have a clue of Her Puter specs. But 86 bucks is cheap ta be legal. if it dont work. I guess i,ll get Her a new CHEAP puter. because We dont play games & all the other stuff. Most of You youngens are concerned about. Just trying ta stay in touch & send a pic or two once in awhile. Anyway I really appreaciate All the help & we,ll see. wensday sometime. Sincerely Cowboy

Actually Cowboy if your in the need of buying a new PC then turn too TigerDirect. Best deals on the web for computers

Just wanted to thank everyone for there help. My Sister got Her disk I sent & She installed it with no problems & Were back in contact. So I dont have to get Her a new puter . Thanks to ALL. Cowboy

Great news.

Your Welcome Cowboy. We're always here to help

Glad to hear everything went well !