I got it! My computer is (almost) fixed. I'd like to share the results with all of you wonderful PCWorks people who helped me through this harrowing time. Perhaps the things that I learned can help you - but I hope you never have to face a similar situation!
It IS possible to reformat Drive C: under Windows XP - but Microsoft does not make it easy to find the way. They would rather have you do anything but reformat for a clean and fresh install - even though that's what is needed. Here's how to do it: Insert your XP disk in the drive and reboot. Have it load Windows from the disk. It goes into Windows Setup. Click R for Recovery Console. This Recovery Console is DIFFERENT from the one that is installed through Windows, and this Console does not ask for a password! Type EXIT. You will be able to access some DOS-like commands, *including Format C:*! Everything else then goes smoothly. Microsoft accepted the re-activation of Windows and of Office with no problems. Those drivers that I could not install previously were now loaded up without a hitch. The IE files were imported perfectly from IE. There were only two problems - and I'll relate to them in a separate e-mail. David Grossman ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
