I was trying to delete my hard drive and reinstall a fresh new xp. Using my cd for some reason it wouldnt let me delete my partition. So I installed xp over the already used partition. In the process it deleted my previous windows install anyways, so I figured no problems. Only thing is it left all my program files. I wanted a fresh new install, so I decide to go back to see if it will let me delete the partition. no luck.

I then decide to create some start up disks to try. I create the 6 disk setup, go through them all on my computer. Lets me delete my partition. I let it format, chose the long version. Hour later, done formatting and it begins "examining discs". Then gives me a error message.

"the following value in the .SIF used by setup is corrupted or missing. Value 0 on the line in Section (SourceDisksFiles) with key "SP1.CAB."

Setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3."

When the computer is turned on it tells me at the bottom of the screen that "NTLDR is missing press ctrl+alt+del to restart"

Now I tried going back to my XP cd but for some reason it won't boot from it. But it will boot from the floppies which I tried doing again and right after format same error.

Is this a retail Microsoft XP CD or an OEM recovery CD?

Was the previous version of XP SP2? If so you need an SP2 CD to run over it or remove it. Windows will not downgrade itself.

Are you using it on an OEM XP installed computer? e.g. Dell; HP; etc.

You can format the drive outside of windows with GParted for example if you have a full retail version of XP with its' own unique Product Key.

If you are using OEM recovery CD what is the make and model of the computer?

I got it working. For anyone who runs into something like this....

First I went into bios, advanced features made my cd rom the first bootable device.

then made a cd with this http://support.gateway.com/support/d...m=gwscan&st=kw which I wrote zeros to the drive with, thus restoring it to factory form.

the only thing now is (this happened before and I have yet to find an answer) when I upgrade to service pack 2 my color and video settings lower and it wont let me change them.

Have you uninstalled and reinstalled your graphics drivers post SP2?