This is my first time posting here. I am trying to install Win XP Pro. I found out the copy is pirated. I got a new copy with SP2 on it. I backed up my files on my slave drive because my DVD and DVD Burner will not see any disks. I reboot and it will not boot from the disk. I am trying to do a clean install. Checked bois and it show it will boot CD then Hard Drives. Everything was working fine until I got a virus, spyware, or something. That is when I found out the XP was pirated by trying to do an update. I had to bring the reg back to the first day windows was installed. At that point the CD Drives stopped working. I have an USB CDRW but it won't boot either. Sometimes it will see the disks but will not let me install anything from them. Can I remove the battary from the board to reset BIOS? I have never really had a problem that I could not solved. Any help would be great.

Step 1-Go buy a legitimate copy of Windows Step 2-Insert CD, shut machine off, start machine up and follow along.

Leave the battery in. Have you formatted the drive? WIPE OUT http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/index.html Freeware. WIPE OUT: as the name implies, this utility will absolutely WIPE your hard drive. For those times when an industrial strength cleaner is needed to remove any pesky files Fdisk may have left behind. A readme file is included in the zip file. WARNING...WIPE OUT will remove ALL data from the Hard Drive. DIRECTIONS 1- Unzip file 2- Copy WIPEOUT to a Win9x boot disk 3- Boot with Win9x disk, make sure the bios is set to boot from floppy 1st. 4- At the A:\> type "wipeout c: /nq /np" (no quotes) /nq = no queries - you will not be asked if you are sure. /np = no partitions - this will overwrite the MBR Press Enter. Now run fdisk to set up partitions. When done, reboot & format.

I do have a legitimate copy of Windows but it will not give me to boot from CD. It will boot in other machines. I disconnected my hard drive an put in the CD but it did not see it. It just told me that I have no bootable drive. I use BartPe cd alot for other stuff. It computer will not see it either.

If I were you, I would follow JohnW instructions. The man is a valuable contributor to this site, in fact I believe he is the best this site has

Thanks Frank, I see a lot of others, also providing very good help.

"It computer will not see it either" This computer may be the old type where you have go into the bios & then use the either manual or auto settings to find the HD. http://www.pcmech.com/show/bios/23/ http://www.pcmech.com/hdindex.htm Old motherboard, large HD ( eg 40gb ) Install an add-in controller card, rather than an overlay program. The quickest, surest fix is to install an ATA/66 card.