Reinstall XP - message "already running"

Michelle,

Did you boot from the CD rather than running setup through Windows?

This is the best way to approach things as I think you already had a copy of Windows installed ......

Check in your BIOS that the boot order is set CD/Floppy/HD

Boot from the Windows CD – follow the on screen prompts …..

To set up Windows XP now press ENTER

Accept the Licence Agreement F8

Searching for previous versions of Windows

To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows without repairing press ESC

Ensure that the drive/partition selected is the one on which XP was set up and press D to delete the selected partition.

To delete the partition press ENTER

To delete the partition press L – heed the warnings and DOUBLE CHECK before hitting L

To create a partition in the unpartitioned space press C

Input a partition size and press ENTER

To set up Windows XP on the selected item (Partition (New Raw)) press ENTER
Format the partition using the NTFS file system – preferred unless you want an install of Win 98 to access data on the drive/partition, if so choose FAT.

Set up is formatting ……

When format is complete XP will install.

When complete install your antivirus and firewall before you even think of connecting to the Internet. Update the virus definitions immediately and then go to Windows Updates and download the Critical updates.

The remainder of the disk can be partitioned through Disk Management - right click on My Computer icon > Manage > Disk Management. The unpartitioned space will show up as unallocated - you can partition and format it here.

If this doesn't work your best bet is to boot the PC from a Win 98 Boot disk - www.bootdisk.com if you haven't got one and then use fdisk to format and partition the disk.

fdisk

HTH

 

Michelle - any progress?