Renew a Dell Inspiron 8000

The hard drive is not blank. It appears to have Windows 2000 Professional loaded. I'm trying to load a copy of XP from my PC but the laptop warns me not to load it because there's already an operating system. Can I erase the existing OS or erase the whole Hard drive and then go to Linux? Have mercy - I truly am a newbie - actually a carpenter. Thanks.

But first of all, does that Windows 2000 still work? If so,then you have a working Operating System to use without having to download and install something new like Linux, which although free, takes a bit of getting used to.

That copying XP from another PC is unlikely to work because of licensing issues. It is already installed elsewhere and so cannot be installed on another system.

If you do want to wipe the drive clean then I believe you could use that XP CD to reformat the hard drive, then cancel out of the installation. If that doesn't work, try something like DBAN;
http://www.dban.org/

Mark

The laptop's got a sticker on it that says Windows 2000 Professional - with the 25 digit serial#. When I turn the thing on, though, it ends up with a Windows WP window (about 5.5" x 4") that talks about installing wWindows and there's also a smaller grey window on top of the first one which asks me to install the "Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 CD" into drive E. I don't know which one is the E drive, by the way - on the left side near the back or on the front at the left? The grey window says I can also copy files from an alternate location - when I click OK on that it says "The file'asma' on Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 CD is needed. Type the path where the file is located, and then click OK."

What do you think? Thanks.

the XP installation has already started. If so, it's probable that the Windows 2000 install has now been corrupted.

That limits your options I fear. The XP install cannot continue because of licensing restrictions. In any case you may have difficulty finding hardware and software drivers for such an old machine now.

Unless you still have the original Windows 2000 setup disks, (probably on floppy disks?), it seems Linux is your next best bet.

Look at it this way. You already have a working XP system. Try Linux on this old machine and see how much you can learn about it. It is different, but it works, and may be enjoyable to learn.

Mark

Very good. If I get the download from Linux and put the CD into this laptop will it overwrite the Windows or do I need to do something else?

Thanks for your help. I'm trying to fill my days with new and interesting diversions. I had my shoulder rebuilt after a mountain bike crash and can't work for 3 months.

Good luck with Linux.

Your question. To be truthful I don't know. My guess is that the Linux Setup should offer the option to reformat the hard drive ready for installation, but I don' want to say so for sure. We have a Linux form here at, http://forums.cnet.com/linux-forum/?tag=contentMain;contentBody and there are some knowledgeable people there.

Why not head over there, explain the situation, and ask them. They could give you some other pointers as well.

I hope your shoulder goes well.

Mark

Thanks for the additional info. I downloaded the Linux OS but the Dell wouldn't even look at it. It keeps asking for the Windows CD. I'll try your approach. Thanks all.

Are you inserting the CD with the Linux distro on it, then rebooting/restarting the computer? If so, it should boot up to the CD and start the install process. It sounds like bootup is bypassing the CD and heading straight for the Windows Setup instructions which must be stored on the hard drive.

Two things may prevent that.

1] The BIOS, (it displays certain hardware configuration as soon as you turn the computer on, before any Windows attempts to load), must be set to boot from the CD first. With many older systems this was not set by default so we have to access the BIOS and look for "Boot order" to move the CD drive to the top of the list.

2] If that fails, then tell us how you created that Linux CD. It should have downloaded as an ISO, but just burning, (coying), that ISO file to a CD doesn't work. It has to be burned 'as an ISO' to make it bootable.

Mark

I did set the first bootable device in the BIOS to the CD drive. When I view the Linux CD on my PC it is identified as:

zorin-os-3-cor
e-32.iso

Steve

This is what Mark told: "It should have downloaded as an ISO, but just burning, (coying), that ISO file to a CD doesn't work. It has to be burned 'as an ISO' to make it bootable."

Did you? If not, do it and try again.

Kees

I downloaded Linux again and at the end my Nero burned it onto a DVD but did not give me options like "burn as an iso." When I view it it shows up as an iso. I tried loading it again but with the same results.

Steve

here is a handy link that offers MANY solutions and since you mention using NERO you will be pleased to note that instructions for NERO are on the page if you scroll down to them. Since there are many versions of NERO and you don't mention yours tha actual steps may vary a bit but you should be able to figure out what to look for.

If still having problems download MagicISO and use it to burn the ISO file -
http://www.magiciso.com/howto/howto.htm#Burn%20CD%20with%20CD%20image%20file