I am trying to repair a computer for a friend of mine and am having problems. The computer is badly infected with spyware so needs a reformat or a recovery. The computer comes with a Techdos Systems Microsoft Windows XP Home Product Recovery CD. If I run this from windows and try to install Windows XP Home it says "Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version of the cd". If I click on details it comes up with Windows XP Home help and support and says "To install the version on the cd, restart your computer, boot from this cd, and follow the instructions for a new installation". I'm assuming it does this as my friend has upgraded to service pack 2. I then reboot the pc with the cd in the drive and it starts to read the cd and says "Starting windows 98..." It then installs the cdrom driver and says "Not ready reading drive D:" When I fail from this reading it drops out to c: drive and the directory is actually the cdrom and I cannot find the contents of drive c: anywhere. It also has drive a: and b: but they just have what appears to be dos on them. The computer has no floppy drive and has a dvdrom and a cdrom. I am at a loss as to how to format drive c: to do a clean install. I have tried holding down f8 which did nothing so I tried f5 to boot into dos and I manage to get a selection screen but the only options do not have anything about booting into dos. Can someone please help me to boot into dos so I can format. I hopefully can then borrow Win XP Home and install with the original OEM key which is on the side of the case. For information on Spyware visit http://sydneyspyware.com.au

You can not install an operating system on the same system that is being used. Go into the Bios and change the boot order to boot from cd first then HDD 2nd. Insert the recovery cd and then press F10 to save and exit BIOS. On exit the computer will reboot and then follow the prompts on screen. IN THE MATTERS OF STYLE, swim with the current; in matters of principle, STAND LIKE A ROCK

Thanks for the response but I already set it to boot from the cdrom. I also tried booting from the dvdrom. Either way it says "Starting Windows 98..." and I have no idea why. It then the cdrom driver (MSCDEX) and then comes up with "CDR101: Not ready reading drive C Abort, Retry, Fail?" Retry does nothing but if I hit Fail I get: "Fail on INT 24 - \" Then the same not reading error. Each time I hit fail I get a different line and these are: "Fail on INT 24 - C:DELETE.BAT" "Fail on INT 24 - oem" "Fail on INT 24 - oem" "Fail on INT 24 - C:OEMLOGO.BMP" "Fail on INT 24 - C:OEMINFO.INI" "Fail on INT 24 - C:OEMLOGO.GIF" "Fail on INT 24 - C:INSTALL.BAT" "Fail on INT 24 - \" "Fail on INT 24 - sbsi" "Fail on INT 24 - sbsi" It then comes to a windows XP setup blue screen saying: "An internal setup error has occurred. Could not find a place for a swap file. Setup cannot continue. Press ENTER to exit." When I press enter it drops to the c: prompt and then I can't get a directory of it. It looks like it changes the dvdrom to be c: and the cdrom becomes d: and the actual hard disk cannot be found anywhere. I went through every drive letter and a: and b: both just have dos on them and e: onwards don't exist. For information on Spyware visit http://sydneyspyware.com.au

sorry it took so long to get back to you! There is no dos in xp so you would have to use a boot disc for either windows 98SE or ME to get a dos screen and since you have no floppy then it would have to be done from a cd that you can create. I would try to do this first though if possible. Locate a OEM full version of Microsoft XP. Try to boot to it and not use the restore disc that you are trying to use. That disc may be the problem. And if that isn't possible then remove the hdd from your friends computer and slave it to yours and then use the windows disc management to format the drive and wipe it clean. Then reinstall the drive and install the operating system in the computer that it belongs in. keep me posted...but i am in and out all the time. IN THE MATTERS OF STYLE, swim with the current; in matters of principle, STAND LIKE A ROCK

Try this company out : www.thepccentre.com. Reformat cost is only £35 - excellent service.

Thanks heaps for the help again. I borrowed XP and managed to do a clean install. It wouldn't accept the OEM serial on the pc case though so I used the one that was with the cd to install and then ran the original recovery cd. It worked perfectly and activated without a problem. And thanks for the tip davemib but I live in Australia. For information on Spyware visit http://sydneyspyware.com.au