I was upgrading an old computer my family had lying around. It is an old intel pentium three. I upgraded the ram, hard drive, installed a controller card, an ethernet connection, and soon i plan to hook it to the INTERNET using a router. Everything I have is compatible, so that isn't a problem. The problem was I erased the hard drive, and got rid of the windows 98 operating system, and now it won't allow me to install XP. I was told that with a blank hard drive, i shouldn't have any problem. I know for a fact that the boot disc is functional. Just to make sure everything was still able to work, i reinstalled 98, and it worked better than ever. unfortunately, I still need to install XP, so i deleted the 98 again. Now, when i put in the XP boot disk, it does one of two things. If i leave the BIOS on default, then it sends me a message that there is an INVALID boot diskette in A drive. I have removed floppy as a boot option from the BIOS settings, and it still usually retains the same message. It only changes on one setting. I can't remember which it is, but what happens when i use that as the only boot BIOS can use is that it goes to what looks a LITTLE like a DOS screen, with only the one blinking underscore, but nothing listed and you cant type. i tried putting in the 98 boot cd and the XP boot cd, and i started it into dos mode. when i do this, i can use the DIR dos command, and it lists the directory on the XP disc just fine. i attempted using a CD WIN XP command, and it tells me that theres too many parameters. I talked to the guys who built the computer, and they told me that 98 is NOT wired into the HARDWARE. Can someone tell me how i can get the XP disk to install? it still only identifies the 98. thanks for your time.It seems that it is a new enough machine that it should be able to boot from the CDOM with the BIOS settings. Any reason you are not doing it that way, rather than a boot floppy? Is it any particular make/model, or what type of motherboard if known?Quote

I am upgrading an old Intel PIII.

I added more RAM, (new/bigger/faster?) hard drive, installed a controller card, an ethernet connection, and soon I plan to hook it to the internet using a router.

Everything I have is compatible, so that isn't a problem. The problem is that I erased the hard drive, and got rid of the Windows '98 operating system, and now it won't allow me to install XP.

I was told that with a blank hard drive, I shouldn't have any problem. I know for a fact that the boot disc is functional. Just to make sure everything is still working, I reinstalled 98, and it worked better than ever.

Unfortunately, I still need to install XP, so I deleted '98 again.

Now, when I put in the XP boot disk, it does one of two things. If I leave the BIOS on default, then it sends me a message that there is an invalid boot diskette in A drive.

I have removed floppy as a boot option from the BIOS settings, and it still retains the same message. It only changes on one setting.

I can't remember which it is, but what happens when I use that as the only boot BIOS can use is, that it goes to what looks a little like a DOS screen, with only the one blinking underscore, but nothing listed and you can't type.

I tried putting in the '98 bootable CD and the bootable XP CD, and I started it into DOS mode.

When I do this, I can use the - dir - DOS command, and it lists the directory on the XP disc just fine.

I attempted the use of a - cd win xp - command, and it tells me that there are too many parameters.

I talked to the guys who built the computer, and they told me that '98 is NOT wired into the hardware. Can someone tell me how I can get the XP disk to install? It still only identifies the '98. Thanks for your time.