Hey all, FINALLY got my laptop back from returns after company went bust. Starts now, so I assumed all is working ok.

Now, it's currently got Fedora Core 8 installed, and IIRC I had no problems installing that, and have previously had XP installed on it, as well as Media Centre edition (which is what it came with).

Anyway, wanting to put XP on it, chuck in a copy of XP SP2 Students Edition that I've installed with countless times. Disk although copied is scratch free.

"Press any key to boot from CD..."
press a key, twiddle my thumbs. Black screen.
Go away, make a cuppa, come back, still a black screen.
Reboot, take CD out, give it a quick wipe (solves most problems!)
Boot from it again...black screen. No blue "Windows is loading drivers" or anything like that, nothing.

Any ideas here? The BIOS is so basic I can't even find any power management stuff, as i know that this can sometimes crash XP installations.

Bit lost tbh!

(Fedora core will boot fine)

Try another boot CD, or go into Linux and make a copy of your Windows one.

......or copy the installation files onto the hard drive and install from there.

Well I've just successfully installed Fedora Core 9 (to test if the disk writing etc. was alright), and it installed fine and is functioning fine. But I don't want linux on it I want XP! :@
How would I go about installing from HDD?
I'll try burning off another copy of the XP installation, hopefully that'll work.

Well I've just successfully installed Fedora Core 9 (to test if the disk writing etc. was alright), and it installed fine and is functioning fine. But I don't want linux on it I want XP! :@
.
I do have to question your logic here.....

My main use for computing:

MSN Messenger,
gaming,
Downloading ebooks etc. from *NOT ALLOWED TO PUT THE URL DOWN I GOT BANNED LAST TIME*

None of the alternatives for MSN are as good as Windows Live with mess patch applied
none of the apps I use from day to day are linux compatible
and DEFINATELY none of the games are.

therefore: XP it is. :)

Well, it's opening up a can of worms here, but....
I use a text based IRC client and have all my messenger protocols piped into that, I can access it from anywhere on any PC with internet. MSN Messenger is bloatware.
I can't see why you would need a different OS to download an ebook? Some bizarre proprietary format? Id be very surprised if there wasn't a FOSS alternative reader.
Gaming - well, you have a point there. I still have my PC dual boot in case I want to play something winblows based, but to be honest I go into it less and less these days.

It's a personal thing, but I think the pros of linux outweigh the cons, and I like the smug feeling of self satisfaction that using it brings :D

Not to mention the fact its fairly easy to break with little to no user input

example: Was running Gutsy Gibbon Ubuntu, It said there were distro updates to install, did so, kernel rebooted and promptly died. Never to work again...

Anyway we're way offtopic, help me get XP on my laptop! I'm downloading a liveCD of Gparted, to see if I can just clear the partitions off the disk, it might be windows installer getting upset trying to read linux partitions and exploding.

OK It was a dead partition, GParted LiveCD saved the day :)

Not to mention the fact its fairly easy to break with little to no user input

example: Was running Gutsy Gibbon Ubuntu, It said there were distro updates to install, did so, kernel rebooted and promptly died. Never to work again...


staying on the offtopic discussion, I find it strange that someone thinks that about linux but not blows. Ive had sooo many windows installations die for no reason.

There's also an oft quoted phrase: "You have to work to keep a windows install from breaking, but you have to work to break a linux install."

Yes, linux takes a little work if you want to be a power user, but isnt that what being a power user is all about, being able to delve into the workings of your computer and play with them - if you know what you are doing that is?

On topic: This laptop is still not fixed I swear, now randomly turns off. I imagine due to overheating. Didn't do this before. Any tips? Should I get the hoover out? (I'm fairly inexperienced with laptops)

Off topic: Thing is, I know Windows XP pretty much inside out, registry tweaks, services, I've got my own SP3 slipstreamed install with components not needed filtered out, etc. I've played with Litestep and got a fully functioning shell replacement working in the past, but as it is Windows provides me with things (primarily gaming related) that linux never will. Plus ( :O ) its prettier. Haha