Thanks for your help.

You asked: Upgrade from what to what?
I'm using the XP Upgrade CD simply because I do not have the plain XP
CD. I have the ME. I upgraded from ME. I've read...over and over
again...that I can reformat the hard drive using the XP Upgrade CD only.
(Although, I will need the ME CD to verify that I have the right to use it.)

Basically, it's my old computer that was running so slow it was driving my
whole family crazy. Fortunately, my wonderful son bought me a brand new
computer for Mother's day. So, I'm finally getting around to formatting the
hard drive on the old computer. I just want to format the hard drive to get
rid of everything, then reinstall XP on it.

Thank you for telling me how to check to see if the computer is really
booting off the CD. I've never needed to do this when I have formatted
drives in the past, so I didn't realize that I could check that. I'll check
it tomorrow when I'm working on it.

I can't believe how long this is taking me. I thought it was a "simple" -
format the hard drive and reinstall everything just as I've done in the past.

Thanks again for your help!


"Jim" wrote:

>
> "Grace" <Grace@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:003977EB-21C2-4AAF-BE59-BB320CFFC710@microsoft.com...
> >I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
> > Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
> > states that:
> >
> > Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer
> > than
> > is on this disk.
> >
> > I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is speaking of is SP1
> > and SP2.
> >
> > Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted? I've tried the
> > boot disks that Microsoft offers, after changing the BIOS to Floppy, of
> > course.
> > (That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the fact that the old
> > computer
> > has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks won't recognize.)
> > {After
> > paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one carries floppies
> > anymore.
> > This is just to let you know the floppies were brand new that I made
> > the boot
> > disks from, in case that matters.}
> >
> > I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above), after
> > changing
> > the BIOS to cdrom.
> >
> > (I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)
> >
> >
> Upgrade from what to what?
>
> The best explanation I have is that the CD is not bootable. The computer
> would then boot from the hard drive.
> To check this possibility, press Start. Enter cmd in the run box. When you
> see the dos-like screen, enter:
> SET.
>
> This will display all of the environment variables, and the one you want to
> look for is the location of the boot drive.
> If this disk is C, then the cd is not bootable, and you are asking XP to
> commit suicide, which it will not do.
> Jim
>
>
>

Thank you! I was wondering about the USB keyboard! We noted when we tried
booting from the XP floppies that they keyboard commands weren't taking. (My
younger son was helping at this time.) He actually got all the 6 disks
through by carefully timing the changing of disks by the light on the floppy
drive. It was amazing to watch. However, when he got to the final disk ( I
knew this would happen), you have to give it a command from the keyboard and,
of course, they keyboard wouldn't give the command.

We've actually looked around the house for a non-USB keyboard. We haven't
found one yet, but maybe our neighbors might have one we could borrow. (Now,
why, oh why, did we get rid of all those keyboards lying around?)

Thank you for confirming my suspicion about the USB keyboard and explaining
why it isn't working!
"VanguardLH" wrote:

> Grace wrote:
>
> > Sorry, VanguardLH...
> > I was replying to LV Travel. I apologize.
> >
> > In response to your advice, I can't even get to the correct setup area as
> > far as I can tell.
> >
> > Even when i boot from the XP Upgrade CD...I still get what looks like the
> > entire program booting up. (I.e. I still get the blue screen with me and
> > all my kids icons to select from.) This doesn't seem right to me, but it
> > does sound like my computer is booting from the cd when I "press any key to
> > boot from cd."
>
> If Windows is loading (and what you mean by the "full program") then you
> did not boot from the CD. Either you pressed a key too late when
> prompted after the POST screen, you are using a USB keyboard on a legacy
> host (so the USB keyboard is not yet recognized), or your BIOS is not
> configured to boot from the CD device *before* the hard disk device.
>
> If you are using a USB keyboard, it requires that you also use a host
> whose BIOS supports legacy USB devices (i.e., USB keyboard and USB
> mouse). If it doesn't, that USB device will not be recognized until the
> USB drivers are loaded by the OS. If the OS has loaded to load the USB
> driver(s) then it is too late to run anything from the install CD. Plug
> the keyboard into the PS/2 port for the keyboard (you may need to use a
> USB-to-PS2 adapter on the keyboard or get a PS/2 keyboard). Or boot
> into the BIOS and configure its BIOS to support legacy USB devices (but
> then the USB keyboard is dead so you can't even do the setup in BIOS and
> will still have to connect the keyboard to the PS/2 port).
>
> Because you saw the "press a key to boot from CD" message, it is likely
> that the BIOS is configured to boot from the CD drive (and hopefully it
> is configured so the CD/DVD device is listed before the hard disk device
> in the boot device sequence order in the BIOS). However, because it
> continue onto loading Windows even after you have hit a key make me
> think you are using a USB keyboard but your BIOS does not support legacy
> USB devices or hasn't been enabled to support them. You can hit the
> keys on your USB keyboard all you want but none of those keypresses will
> be recognized until the USB drivers are loaded by the OS and that is
> after the OS has already loaded.
>

[color=#73afeb]Nice Info Website


Just a note to say You forum is excellent !
.

Yes, my new computer came with a USB keyboard also. With my new computer I
have plenty of USB ports to use...along with tons of others, but that old
computer...I only had 2. I will probably leave the PS/2 keyboard on that
computer. (We did manage to find one in the house without having to run next
door.)

Thanks again!

"VanguardLH" wrote:

> Grace wrote:
>
> > Thank you, thank you, thank you! You were right! It was the USB keyboard
> > causing the problems! (Well, I did uninstall SP2, Internet Explorer, and
> > Windows Media player prior to switching the keyboard.)
> >
> > Switched keyboard this morning and it worked perfectly!!!!
>
> On motherboards that supply both USB and PS/2 ports, I see no reason to
> waste a USB port on the keyboard since a PS/2 port works just as well
> for a keyboard. Also, since I can connect to the PS/2 port for the
> keyboard, I free up a USB port for another USB device (printer, scanner,
> camera, etc.).
>
> Keyboards bought today might be USB-only keyboard. Basically they're
> too stingy to include the USB-to-PS2 adapter that comes with other
> PS2/USB keyboards.
>

I was going to try the ME next, but I'm so glad that I found out that the USB
keyboard wouldn't load until after the OS loaded.

Fortunately, reinstalling everything is running fairly smoothly....

"N. Miller" wrote:

> On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:06:37 -0500, Jim wrote:
>
> > Upgrade from what to what?
> >
> > The best explanation I have is that the CD is not bootable. The computer
> > would then boot from the hard drive.
>
> When I tried to upgrade Windows Me to Windows XP, the upgrade CD booted. The
> problem I encountered is that the upgrade disk would not recognize an OEM
> recovery CD as a valid upgrade path. I had to run the HP Recovery disks to
> reinstall Windows Me (for some reason, after upgrading the system BIOS,
> Windows Me would hang at the "Finding new hardware" pop-up window), and run
> the upgrade CD from within a working installation of Windows Me. I am sure
> that a retail box install disk for Windows Me would be recognized.
>
> Given the amount of time Grace took to make things work, I just wonder,
> considering that she wanted to run a clean install, if just reloading
> Windows Me, and running the upgrade from within Windows Me wouldn't have
> been faster.
>
> --
> Norman
> ~Oh Lord, why have you come
> ~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum
>