Hi, This question probably has been asked numerous times, but here goes anyways. I tried installing XP to finally get rid of my old win98, but due to damaged areas in C, the installation cannot be effectuated. What can i do to solve this problem? Because i have simply no idea what and where these files would be. Is there a way to get around that to complete the installation of the new OS? Is formating an option? Must i resort to reinstalling win98 through the SE cd? Thanks for the help, ~L

..".but due to damaged areas in C...? What is the exact error message you get? Regardless, run a full chkdisk routine; perhaps even better download/run the utils for the drive from the manufacturer's web-site; and if none there for your drive, then use the Maxtor versions - they seem to work with most/many others too. If the drive is faulty... or show up a lot of errors (bas sectors), then it would be wiser to replace it. Depending on where you live etc., drives are not so many $$/£££ these days? Also what are the specs. for the PC on which you are hoping to install XP?

Thanks for the reply. I don't get any further info on the nature of the damaged files. The error message appears at the startup of the windows xp installation, basically immediately after starting the computer. It sais that some areas in C are damaged and "cannot be repaired". I have no idea what these files are.

are you setting the bios to boot from CDROM while trying to load XP? Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back with your results....thanks

I'd run the disk checking utils routine first, with drive as is; do not bother to reformat etc. it at this stage. If there are damaged/bad sectors on the drive they can frequently be marked out with these utils and not used thereafter; this may then allow the installation to complete. Then perhaps have a go at a repair installation of XP as. The problem "may" be due to an issue with RAM... If you have two (or more) sticks of RAM installed reduce to a single stick (min 128Meg) - try each in turn - and see if you can get the installation to complete. Also there is an XP readiness advisor (vets the system for XP compliance...); this is it very wise/useful to run - before starting to install the OS... http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/advisor.mspx There is a link to the download at the end of the text. Once you have run the disk utils, it may be worth too to run a zero-fill routine to reset the drive as close as is possible to a factory-gate status. do NOT run a true low-level format on the drive. The zero-fill routine is frequently mis-nomered as Low Level Format (LLF) when it is really more of a Mid-Level-Format (MLF). (Note: a true LLF will wreck most current drives - not what you want...) Afterwhich you reconfigure the drive afresh and perhaps preformat it too (fa32) via a '98 boot-disk utils. Then run XP setup as per norm. Overall I'd be inclined to run the disk utils first; closely observe/consider any info they cough up re' state of drive. If in any doubts about the drive afterwards, replace it and start afresh...

were there errors on drive when 98 was running? what is the format of drive now, 32 bit(98) or ntfs(xp)? may need to fdisk, format, and reload to choice of operating system, how large is drive?

wipe the disk with the utility from: http://www.killdisk.com