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[Taxi_Driver]

How do i just format it then?

There should be option in bios to boot from cd.......set it to this....then pc should boot of the cd and then follow the prompts.....but as TB says are you sure it can handle XP??

[Taxi_Driver]

Lost

 

I put the disc in and nothing, then i opened my computer and pressed the disc drive and it says insert disc

Either the CD drive is knackered (try another CD), or the CD is knackered, in which case (presumably its new) return to vendor for replacement.  If not new, Microsoft will send out a new CD for a small handling/p&p fee (around £10 - £15 IIRC) once you have proved ownership (generally they just need the key)

Can you upgrade from ME to XP? i didnt think you could?

[TheBoy]

Lost

 

I put the disc in and nothing, then i opened my computer and pressed the disc drive and it says insert disc

Either the CD drive is knackered (try another CD), or the CD is knackered, in which case (presumably its new) return to vendor for replacement.  If not new, Microsoft will send out a new CD for a small handling/p&p fee (around £10 - £15 IIRC) once you have proved ownership (generally they just need the key)

Can you upgrade from ME to XP? i didnt think you could?

Irrelevent. Never upgrade an OS. Always rebuild.

But, sounds like poster cannot read CD from within Windows, so cd drive or cd fault...

[Jay]

Nah the CD drive is sound ive used discs in it

[TheBoy]

Nah the CD drive is sound ive used discs in it

So is CD original XP one, or recovery one, or a copy?

[theolodian]

Lost

 

I put the disc in and nothing, then i opened my computer and pressed the disc drive and it says insert disc

Either the CD drive is knackered (try another CD), or the CD is knackered, in which case (presumably its new) return to vendor for replacement.  If not new, Microsoft will send out a new CD for a small handling/p&p fee (around £10 - £15 IIRC) once you have proved ownership (generally they just need the key)

Can you upgrade from ME to XP? i didnt think you could?

Irrelevent. Never upgrade an OS. Always rebuild.

But, sounds like poster cannot read CD from within Windows, so cd drive or cd fault...

So not quite like my POS then.  To belabor the obvious, try another CD within Windows?  Get a new computer?  Get out Sammy Sledgehammer?  Curse Winblows (just because)?  Withdraw from modern society?  Start a cult?  Have 20 wives under 20 years old?  Trick the other men into mass suicide next Persids?  Rip off truckloads of Viagra and BCP's?  Die of a heart attack in bed at the age of 32 from over-exertion?

[Jay]

Im over the fact i cant upgrade to XP now lol I just want to reformat it so its empty now? And keep it on ME

[theolodian]

Im over the fact i cant upgrade to XP now lol I just want to reformat it so its empty now? And keep it on ME

I'm hoping I can just get Linux on mine someday.  No luck since last summer.  Please keep me posted on what you find.

[sounds2k]

hmmm one thing that comes to mind ... some old computers have trouble reading re-writeable CDs (CD-RW), try a normal writeable CD (CD-R) instead ... a giveaway to this is that the light on the CD drive flashes for ages after loading the disc, then eventually gives up and says no disc ... apparently CD-RW discs don't reflect enough light when compared to pressed CD's or CD-R's ...

[TheBoy]

I go back to my question - is it an original XP CD, a copy of one, or a recovery CD.  It sounds like CD drive cannot read for some reason...

[Taxi_Driver]

Lost

 

I put the disc in and nothing, then i opened my computer and pressed the disc drive and it says insert disc

Either the CD drive is knackered (try another CD), or the CD is knackered, in which case (presumably its new) return to vendor for replacement.  If not new, Microsoft will send out a new CD for a small handling/p&p fee (around £10 - £15 IIRC) once you have proved ownership (generally they just need the key)

Can you upgrade from ME to XP? i didnt think you could?

Irrelevent. Never upgrade an OS. Always rebuild.

But, sounds like poster cannot read CD from within Windows, so cd drive or cd fault...

I do agree TB....as registry probs always go with the upgrade....

[nixoro]

First off is the copy of XP genuine and if a dell version is it going on a Dell Laptop, If its a Dell CD and going onto another brand PC chances are there will be errors in the installation in any case, and if its an older laptop chances are the MOBO will not be supported. If its an illegal copy and you dont have the licence key its pointless even trying, best to have genuine.

Usually Dell CD's are bootable hence specifying in the bios to boot from disc now if it was one where the files were dragged across and dropped onto another disc you may have missed the bootfiles.

As mentioned previous are you 100% sure the laptop you are putting it on will be able to cope and also no point in upgrading as its always best imo to do a fresh install.

You say

Nah the CD drive is sound ive used discs in it

when?

Seems to me you have a knackered if its not reading CD's now.

Just my tuppence, worth feel free to delete if its infringing anything.

[Admin]

Everyone is throwing too much random infromation around, which will be confusing Jay.

Ok, Jay, first things first. What are the specifications of the laptop?
To find this out, press the Windows logo key (bottom left of keyboard) and Pause/Break key (top right of keyboard).

This will bring up a screen showing system information.
Main things are Processor and speed + memory (bottom half of screen)

From that we can ascertain whether you can run XP or not.

Now. the disc reading error can easily be checked by simply sticking another disc in. Try a music disc for instance.

After all that we can properly advise further.

[bestseany]

Did you finalise the CD when you burned it?

Just a side note - CD's don't use hard disk file systems (like FAT and NTFS), they use the CDFS file system so will be compatible across all OS's.

[supermop]

The only reason your laptop is unable to read the CD, would be a faulty CD or a faulty CD drive. All CD's use a filesystem called CDFS, so it matters not what version of windows you run. You CAN upgrade your ME machine to Windows XP, but as TB has said, it is unadvisable. It is best to install Windows XP on the laptop from scratch.

Before you get started, you will need to gather an exact list of what hardware your laptop is using, in order to get the correct Windows XP drivers for it. Usually these are included on the original installation CD that came with the laptop, but as the it seems quite old, this may not be the case. Refer to your original manual for the list of hardware it runs.

Best way to upgrade: Insert the official Windows XP installation CD-ROM into your laptop, and reboot it. Before Windows ME loads up again, it will ask you to "Press any key to boot from CD". Press the RETURN key at this point - most vendors still haven't put an 'any' key on their keyboards yet

Windows XP setup will load up after scanning your laptop. Follow the instructions through, and eventually you should be able to reformat your laptop if the setup program deems it capable of running XP. Once thats done, you can sit back while XP installs itself. It will pause at several intervals as it needs some minor user input (like selecting languages and inputting the CD Key etc). After about an hour to an hour and a half, you should be looking at your nice new Windows XP desktop. All you need to do here is install the hardware drivers that you should have downloaded/found, as per paragraph above.

If you are unable to install Windows XP, I recommend installing Windows 98SE or Windows 2000 rather than Windows ME. It is a much more stable operating system and a lot faster. Windows ME was one of Microsoft's biggest mistakes. You can get Windows 98SE anywhere, as MS no longer support it, and copied/pirated versions no longer concern them.