Thanks for the reply.

I believe you misunderstood me. I never pulled the plug in place of a proper shutdown. What I did is; after the shut down I pulled the plug and hit the power on button a few times to drained the PSU. All this was done way back in the process in order to eliminate a PSU failure.

Okay, I have to do some back ups, read your link and then I'll give it a try.

Just for info, I don't have an "operating install disk" I have a recovery disk.

When I installed the new HDD, it took the recovery disk because the HDD was formated/blank, I then had to go through hours of updates to bring the OS up to speed.

I've tried booting from the recovery disk but it won't take; a window opens that say there's an OS on the system already and it's newer than what's on the disk.

Therefore, I need to find out how to format the "C" drive/partition and then do as you suggest......at least this is my belief.....I could be wrong.

I'll read your link.

In the mean time just for info, I have a doctor's appointment and will be gone for a good while.

Thanks for your help.

William you need to delete the old partition then create a new one.Then install XP.

Windows XP Professional Install Guide Same princible for home and pro.