The cd i got from the MSDNAA site since i was a student at a tech class in A+ computer repair
Its microsoft labeled
its not a recovery cd
the make is dell the model is optiplex GX260
and no have not tried the Ubuntu

the hard drive has 280 Gig of space and not to sure about the cd drive speed

Dell is incredibly proprietary. Meaning there could be either BIOS settings and or a Boot Sector on that hard drive that formatting cannot touch.

If you have nothing to lose I suggest running KillDisk then try the XP CD again.

Active@ Kill Disk Hard Drive Eraser. Low Level Format.

As mentioned the upgrade only reqires a verification of ME and not an install.

It doesn't sound like to me that this installation is going anywhere so I agree that you should start over. I've never heard of this happening. Are you sure that your disk is good?

I just thought I'd mention that a low level format will take a long time depending upon the drive size and speed. So don't be surprised if you are still several hours into it and it still isn't done. Expect it to take most of the night and plan on working on your computer tomorrow.

yes its the same cd i used when i did it before and it went fine the last time

but yea ill restart it and see if it goes normally again and ill just sleep on it.
Thanks for the help

Any time. Let us know.

If the issue persists it is most likely a hardware issue.

Have you opened that case and cleaned it?

Many times in a slim line like that the graphics chip can burn out which will "throw off" any OS install.

You can test the hard drive and the RAM rather easily.

Dell has a diagnostic on either the hard drive as a recovery option on boot or else the recovery disks provided.

Otherwise most Dell computers use Maxtor/Seagate > Seagate Knowledge Base


Beyond this there are many troubleshooting fixes you can try such as leaving the case open and blowing an external fan onto the motherboard.