I am trying to install windows XP pro on my Dell laptap. It has the original OS still installed; windows 98. I have restarted the computer, with the floppy boot disk in the A: drive. Yet it continues to boot up the OS from the HD. When i restart, and try to enter into setup (it says F2 key), it simply enters into the loading screen faster. Instead of entering the setup screen, it simply enters into a "buffer" screen and boots up normally. It has also once entered into a "scan mode" and looked for virus's on the HD. Is there a way for me to enter setup so i can change the boot order to the A: drive instead of the HD without restarting? Or is there some other way to enter into the setup screen while restarting?

First lets understand what you are trying to do. Are you trying to upgrade Win98 to Winxp or install WinXP clean? Either way, you should not be booting from the floppy drive. To upgrade, boot up win98 and start the winXP install process from the CD drive. To install XP clean you want to boot from the CD. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!!!

Just in case, when attempting to enter the bios, you have to hit the F2 key at the right time during a boot. The best way to do it is start tapping the F2 key (about once every second or two) as soon as you start the boot. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!!!

im sorry, we are upgrading to XP from 98. we were trying to format the drive before installing XP. when i tried to run /format C: from run, it said it was unable to format a drive while in use. we have already backed up all the files we needed saved. this is a secondary computer, so there are no files that are important to save left. at this moment, we are uninstalling McAfee then will try to install XP.

It's not necessary to format the drive before doing an XP install. The XP install program will repartition and format the drive before installing XP, if that's what you want. I worry about people with OEM systems like Dell installing from a Microsoft CD. Dell has installed at least one tiny partition on the drive for recovery software. That sometimes causes problems. Also you are going to need drivers (video, sound,motherboard, etc). It might be a good idea to get them first. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!!!

im finding alot of problems now. i was trying to make a bootable floppy, that has the CD-drive availble. while in the process of this, i have to insert the WIN98 CD, done. but for some reason it is not reading any of the files on the CD, but only when it's trying to write the floppy. this laptop is rather old, so i would like to start with a clean slate, so to speak. it suffers from alot of spyware, and virus's. but with my current problems im thinking its going to be a good idea to upgrade to XP, leave the files on the computer then try to reformat in WinXP. thanks alot for your help! youve been extremly helpful.

You've got a challenging job ahead. Good luck!!! Do yourself a favor BACKUP!!!