OK. Please bare with me, I'm feeling slightly unstable at the moment!

I've tried everything possible

EVERYTHING i can think of

yet i know the answer is out there somewhere!

My computer started being crap so I decided to format and start again!

did the whole bios boot from cd change thing

fine

the disk starts

does the 'press f2 to install drivers'

and the 'press f8 to restore' or something

then it goes through loads of files and such

then it says "starting windows set up" or something

and it just stays like that

forever

please help me before i eat my arm or something

thank you

Bainsy xxxx


big love to you and your families

When u start the setup, does it complain about a missing "smartdrv" or "smart drive"?

nope!

I love WinXP Microsoft version of a weapon of mass destruction
Pretty sure the following article will help u out of your misery

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=217073

Yeah, I really dislike winXP
was thinking of installing Linux insted, but there's so many versions of it, and not much information about it!

cheers will print that out and try it

Well for a first time linux user i would recommend Mandrake or S.U.S.E.
There is also Knoppix around, which is kind of a "Tryout Linux". Its a complete OS that boots from CD, so no need to install anything to your hdd, and you can sniff around in linux for a bit.
If u are intersted just lemme know and i ll post a download link for linux

could you please give me the link to the linux
thanks

here we go:
http://www.knoppix.net/get.php

thanks your a star

Nae bother