For anyone wondering how to run a clean install with an XP Upgrade CD, winnt.exe is the way to go!!! Thanks to everybody who replied to my July 6th post (message #31085). I followed your instructions, and my computer now works flawlessly!!! It runs FASTER and much smoother (doesn't drag at all) than when I installed XP over Windows 98. Here's EXACTLY what I did... 1. I grabbed my old Windows 98 CD and copied a file called smartdrv.exe to a second floppy disk 2. I started my computer with my Windows 98 boot-up disk (with CD-ROM support). 3. I formatted my hard drive, inserted the second floppy disk and ran smartdrv.exe FOUR times (the first time did not run. The second time did, so I ran it two more times!) 4. I inserted my UPGRADE copy of Windows XP, and searched in the I386 directory for a file called winnt.exe 5. I ran the file and XP loaded PERFECTLY! In the past, I tried booting from the CD itself, but the End User License Agreement kept cancelling the install. For anyone who's still having trouble performing a clean XP install with an Upgrade CD, winnt.exe is definitely the way to go. Good luck!

For your information the reason Smartdrv.exe did not appear to run is that it was actually installing itself into memory. When it does this it doesn't actually display any messages (yes it is a bit dumb). When you run it again it just displays the current settings of smartdrv. I take it previous posts have already explained what smartdrv actually does so I won't go into details. Phil