Can't reinstall windows xp

try going to the bios and change the boot sequence for hard drive to cd
put the copy of xp in the external hard drive and reboot the computer
when it powers up it should boot up off the external hard drive
if that works go to computer --device manager and find recovery section
you may also go restore to a previous date and try for a fix from there
go google and get to microsoft and find that file download for xp and install it
if all that works shut the computer down and reboot back to bios and change back to reboot from hard drive
remove the disc from the external hard drive

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Hope this helps

Hi, looks like you will need to format your hard drive and reinstall windows. Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} To install new version of XP. Insert XP CD into drive, reboot pc pressing F1 button.. This takes you into BIOS, change your primary boot device to CDrom, save changes and reboot. Select boot from CD once this appears and wait for files to be installed. Select the part of the hard drive you wish to use for your operating system (usually the largest) and select partition this drive. Delete any previous os, and reformat hard drive. (Be aware this removes everything saved on your hard drive, so always back up first) Re boot afterwards and reinstall operating system.
Hope this helps

Hi yes try this, if no joy come back to me.
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} To install new version of XP. Insert XP CD into drive, reboot pc pressing ESC button, or delete in some machines. This takes you into BIOS, change your primary boot device to CDrom, save changes and reboot. Select boot from CD once this appears and wait for files to be installed. Select the part of the hard drive you wish to use for your operating system (usually the largest) and select partition this drive. Delete any previous os, and reformat hard drive. (Be aware this removes everything saved on your hard drive, so always back up first) Re boot afterwards and reinstall operating system.

Probably your system has been corrupted, or you have installed a software that caused your system not to function due to conflicts.

The solution that i find to solve your problem is to perform windows xp repair install, which will replace corrupted files on your system in order for you system to run properly.

Follow these step by step solution on how to perform the Windows XP Repair Install.

You should first check if you have these on your system.
1. A CD/DVD Drive.
2. A bootable Windows XP Install disk, depends on the version of your Windows XP , whether it be SP3 or SP2.
3.Idea on how to boot to your BIOS settings, you can check it using your systems manual or you should see a press button (e.g "Press F2 to SETUP").


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Step by step solution on performing Windows XP Repair Install.
1. Insert the Windows XP installer on your CD/DVD Drive.
2. Restart your system.
3. Go to your BIOS Settings and set your CD/DVD drive boot priority. We will be booting to your Windows XP Install disk to perform reinstall on your system.

* Reinstalling doesnt affect your programs, but will just delete the previous windows xp system files and replace it with a new one.

4. When you are now in the Windows XP Install screen where you can select if you want to install windows xp, go to windows repair console or exit the installation. You should select "to Setup windows XP now press Enter".

Heres the screenshot as a guide.



Press Enter, then when you see Searching for previous windows installation, you should select "R" to repair your installation, if you dont see any "searching for previous windows installation message" then you should check your bios settings.

After the reboot, you should set back again your BIOS to boot from your hard drive. restart your system, also you should prepare a valid windows xp cd key for that because you will be needing it confirm the setup process of your system.

After the reinstallation process, you can now boot your windows xp system nice and clean. :)

Its hard to tell just like this without having the computer in hand to check and test the jumpers and connection and all, but quick like this i think it might be a trojan virus that corrupted the boot sectors of the old hard drive, and when you copied the stuff from the old to the new, the virus followed and infected the boot sectors of the new one too. Try to reformat completely using the original windows install disk, and not the system restore/reinstall disk and reinstall windows after the format with the original windows disk again. If I was right, it should boot up OK with a fresh format and reinstall with the real windows CD, then install a virus scan and a spyware scan and scan and clean the old drive completely 2 or 3 times to be sure theres nothing bad left on it, then try to copy the whole disc, but skip the Windows repertory, the Program Files one too and the Documents and settings one also, cause those 3 are the ones most prone to corrupting a fresh install even if there is not any viruses in them. If it does not boot up OK after formating and reinstalling Windows though and says it's unbootable, then either there is a config error in the BIOS of the laptop, or the IDE controller that drives the disk is defective. If it's the BIOS settings, it's gonna be easy enough just changing the settings and won't cost you too much, and if its the IDE controller... then that's another story cause it's integrated in the motherboard like any other computer, so basically another computer will cost less than a new motherboard for a laptop. So if that is the case and the IDE controller is shot, you can still try to use an external USB drive to run the computer but not all computers support booting from the USB though, so before buying a brand new external drive, check the BIOS first to see if it does support USB booting.

I know this is not what you will want to hear, but according to the Dell Support site, error code 2000-0146 indicates: DST Log contains previous error(s). This means that the drive is failing and needs to be replaced. ASAP is best. I would suggest that you backup anything on the current drive that want to move to the new drive. If the computer is under warranty, contact Dell Support and they should ship you a new drive. If there is no warranty remaining, you will need to purchase a similar type of drive. Once you have the new drive, install it and then reinstall your software. It should go more quickly is you can use the recovery CDs that were shipped with the computer originally.

Good luck, and please let me know how it turns out for you.

~ Spoem

if you got a windows xp cd then boot from it and format the drive then reinstall xp

well it could be a bad sector on the hardrive .. couple of questions did you reformat the drive you are installing it in? Did it give you that option on your reinstall?

You cannot uninstall Windows Vista, but you can reinstall your previous operating system, which then replaces Windows Vista. To reinstall your old operating system, you must have the original installation disc. Back up your programs and files, insert the installation disc into your computer, and then reinstall the old operating system. To regain the hard disk space used by Windows Vista, reformat the disk during the reinstallation process. After reinstalling your previous operating system, reinstall your programs and files.