Format hard drive with XP upgrade won't work because of "newer" ve

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer than
is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is speaking of is SP1
and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted? I've tried the
boot disks that Microsoft offers, after changing the BIOS to Floppy, of
course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the fact that the old
computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks won't recognize.)
{After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one carries floppies
anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand new that I made
the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above), after changing
the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)

Of great historical significance to all, Grace
declared on Fri, 25 Jul 2008
16:50:01 -0700:

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer
using my XP Home Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work.
However, when I try it, it states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on
this computer than is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is
speaking of is SP1 and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted?
I've tried the boot disks that Microsoft offers, after
changing the BIOS to Floppy, of course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the
fact that the old computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks
won't recognize.) {After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one
carries floppies anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand
new that I made the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above),
after changing the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)


You might find some assistance from Michael Stevens articles:

How do I format a NTFS/Fat/Fat32 drive with XP installed?
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/format_XP.htm

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

hth
--
com
"I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid."
- Terry Bradshaw -

In this case, you need to boot with the XP Upgrade CD, go through the setup
and have it delete the partition where the current installation is and then
have it create a new partition and format that.

Since the "installation" program that is running sees a newer version of XP
it doesn't want to delete a possible working OS.


"Grace" wrote in message
...
I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer
than
is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is speaking of is SP1
and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted? I've tried the
boot disks that Microsoft offers, after changing the BIOS to Floppy, of
course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the fact that the old
computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks won't recognize.)
{After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one carries floppies
anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand new that I made
the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above), after
changing
the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)

Grace wrote:

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer than
is on this disk.

Then you didn't navigate correctly through the setup procedure. If you
select the partition and format it using the setup program, there won't
be any OS for it to detect in that partition. It is because you have
NOT formatted the partition that the setup program sees a newer version
of the oS in there.

You don't run the setup program from within Windows, especially since
you would then be trying to format the partition of the OS that you are
using to run the setup program. That only works in cartoons and special
effects movies. You need to BOOT using the install CD and do the
formatting using *it*.

Hi VanguardLH,

I do boot from the cd. This is the way I boot...just to make sure we're on
the same page.

restart computer, I have the XP Upgrade CD in the cdrom drive. When the
black screen with white letters is showing....

boot from cdrom...press any key to boot from cd

I press "Enter"

It then brings up (what looks like to me) to full program as usual.

(I have formatted several hard drives in the past, just not with XP on it.)

Thanks for trying to help!

"VanguardLH" wrote:

Grace wrote:

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer than
is on this disk.

Then you didn't navigate correctly through the setup procedure. If you
select the partition and format it using the setup program, there won't
be any OS for it to detect in that partition. It is because you have
NOT formatted the partition that the setup program sees a newer version
of the oS in there.

You don't run the setup program from within Windows, especially since
you would then be trying to format the partition of the OS that you are
using to run the setup program. That only works in cartoons and special
effects movies. You need to BOOT using the install CD and do the
formatting using *it*.

Sorry, VanguardLH...
I was replying to LV Travel. I apologize.

In response to your advice, I can't even get to the correct setup area as
far as I can tell.

Even when i boot from the XP Upgrade CD...I still get what looks like the
entire program booting up. (I.e. I still get the blue screen with me and
all my kids icons to select from.) This doesn't seem right to me, but it
does sound like my computer is booting from the cd when I "press any key to
boot from cd."


"VanguardLH" wrote:

Grace wrote:

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer than
is on this disk.

Then you didn't navigate correctly through the setup procedure. If you
select the partition and format it using the setup program, there won't
be any OS for it to detect in that partition. It is because you have
NOT formatted the partition that the setup program sees a newer version
of the oS in there.

You don't run the setup program from within Windows, especially since
you would then be trying to format the partition of the OS that you are
using to run the setup program. That only works in cartoons and special
effects movies. You need to BOOT using the install CD and do the
formatting using *it*.

Thank you, Chet. I have seen Micheal's pages yesterday, but my history did
not have it listed. Thank you for directing me here! I think I'm going to
try the Win98 boot disk.

"Chet" wrote:

Of great historical significance to all, Grace
declared on Fri, 25 Jul 2008
16:50:01 -0700:

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer
using my XP Home Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work.
However, when I try it, it states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on
this computer than is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is
speaking of is SP1 and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted?
I've tried the boot disks that Microsoft offers, after
changing the BIOS to Floppy, of course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the
fact that the old computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks
won't recognize.) {After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one
carries floppies anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand
new that I made the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above),
after changing the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)


You might find some assistance from Michael Stevens articles:

How do I format a NTFS/Fat/Fat32 drive with XP installed?
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/format_XP.htm

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

hth
--
com
"I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid."
- Terry Bradshaw -

Hi LVTravel,

Thank you for your help. I did boot with the XP Upgrade CD. I couldn't get
it to go through the setup. It stops before any setup can be done and tells
me that it can't continue due to the newer version running.

I do boot following the computer's instructions to "press any key to boot
from CD"

I press "Enter"...it then sounds like my computer is booting from my CD, but
it still brings up what looks like the normal Windows XP screen with mine and
my kids icons.

I think I'm going to attempt using the Win98 boot disk and try it that way.

Thanks so much.

"LVTravel" wrote:

In this case, you need to boot with the XP Upgrade CD, go through the setup
and have it delete the partition where the current installation is and then
have it create a new partition and format that.

Since the "installation" program that is running sees a newer version of XP
it doesn't want to delete a possible working OS.


"Grace" wrote in message
...
I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer
than
is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is speaking of is SP1
and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted? I've tried the
boot disks that Microsoft offers, after changing the BIOS to Floppy, of
course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the fact that the old
computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks won't recognize.)
{After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one carries floppies
anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand new that I made
the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above), after
changing
the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)

Grace wrote:

Sorry, VanguardLH...
I was replying to LV Travel. I apologize.

In response to your advice, I can't even get to the correct setup area as
far as I can tell.

Even when i boot from the XP Upgrade CD...I still get what looks like the
entire program booting up. (I.e. I still get the blue screen with me and
all my kids icons to select from.) This doesn't seem right to me, but it
does sound like my computer is booting from the cd when I "press any key to
boot from cd."

If Windows is loading (and what you mean by the "full program") then you
did not boot from the CD. Either you pressed a key too late when
prompted after the POST screen, you are using a USB keyboard on a legacy
host (so the USB keyboard is not yet recognized), or your BIOS is not
configured to boot from the CD device *before* the hard disk device.

If you are using a USB keyboard, it requires that you also use a host
whose BIOS supports legacy USB devices (i.e., USB keyboard and USB
mouse). If it doesn't, that USB device will not be recognized until the
USB drivers are loaded by the OS. If the OS has loaded to load the USB
driver(s) then it is too late to run anything from the install CD. Plug
the keyboard into the PS/2 port for the keyboard (you may need to use a
USB-to-PS2 adapter on the keyboard or get a PS/2 keyboard). Or boot
into the BIOS and configure its BIOS to support legacy USB devices (but
then the USB keyboard is dead so you can't even do the setup in BIOS and
will still have to connect the keyboard to the PS/2 port).

Because you saw the "press a key to boot from CD" message, it is likely
that the BIOS is configured to boot from the CD drive (and hopefully it
is configured so the CD/DVD device is listed before the hard disk device
in the boot device sequence order in the BIOS). However, because it
continue onto loading Windows even after you have hit a key make me
think you are using a USB keyboard but your BIOS does not support legacy
USB devices or hasn't been enabled to support them. You can hit the
keys on your USB keyboard all you want but none of those keypresses will
be recognized until the USB drivers are loaded by the OS and that is
after the OS has already loaded.

"Grace" wrote in message
...
I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer
than
is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is speaking of is SP1
and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted? I've tried the
boot disks that Microsoft offers, after changing the BIOS to Floppy, of
course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the fact that the old
computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks won't recognize.)
{After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one carries floppies
anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand new that I made
the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above), after
changing
the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)


Upgrade from what to what?

The best explanation I have is that the CD is not bootable. The computer
would then boot from the hard drive.
To check this possibility, press Start. Enter cmd in the run box. When you
see the dos-like screen, enter:
SET.

This will display all of the environment variables, and the one you want to
look for is the location of the boot drive.
If this disk is C, then the cd is not bootable, and you are asking XP to
commit suicide, which it will not do.
Jim

Thanks for your help.

You asked: Upgrade from what to what?
I'm using the XP Upgrade CD simply because I do not have the plain XP
CD. I have the ME. I upgraded from ME. I've read...over and over
again...that I can reformat the hard drive using the XP Upgrade CD only.
(Although, I will need the ME CD to verify that I have the right to use it.)

Basically, it's my old computer that was running so slow it was driving my
whole family crazy. Fortunately, my wonderful son bought me a brand new
computer for Mother's day. So, I'm finally getting around to formatting the
hard drive on the old computer. I just want to format the hard drive to get
rid of everything, then reinstall XP on it.

Thank you for telling me how to check to see if the computer is really
booting off the CD. I've never needed to do this when I have formatted
drives in the past, so I didn't realize that I could check that. I'll check
it tomorrow when I'm working on it.

I can't believe how long this is taking me. I thought it was a "simple" -
format the hard drive and reinstall everything just as I've done in the past.

Thanks again for your help!


"Jim" wrote:


"Grace" wrote in message
...
I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer
than
is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is speaking of is SP1
and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted? I've tried the
boot disks that Microsoft offers, after changing the BIOS to Floppy, of
course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the fact that the old
computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks won't recognize.)
{After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one carries floppies
anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand new that I made
the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above), after
changing
the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)


Upgrade from what to what?

The best explanation I have is that the CD is not bootable. The computer
would then boot from the hard drive.
To check this possibility, press Start. Enter cmd in the run box. When you
see the dos-like screen, enter:
SET.

This will display all of the environment variables, and the one you want to
look for is the location of the boot drive.
If this disk is C, then the cd is not bootable, and you are asking XP to
commit suicide, which it will not do.
Jim

Thank you! I was wondering about the USB keyboard! We noted when we tried
booting from the XP floppies that they keyboard commands weren't taking. (My
younger son was helping at this time.) He actually got all the 6 disks
through by carefully timing the changing of disks by the light on the floppy
drive. It was amazing to watch. However, when he got to the final disk ( I
knew this would happen), you have to give it a command from the keyboard and,
of course, they keyboard wouldn't give the command.

We've actually looked around the house for a non-USB keyboard. We haven't
found one yet, but maybe our neighbors might have one we could borrow. (Now,
why, oh why, did we get rid of all those keyboards lying around?)

Thank you for confirming my suspicion about the USB keyboard and explaining
why it isn't working!
"VanguardLH" wrote:

Grace wrote:

Sorry, VanguardLH...
I was replying to LV Travel. I apologize.

In response to your advice, I can't even get to the correct setup area as
far as I can tell.

Even when i boot from the XP Upgrade CD...I still get what looks like the
entire program booting up. (I.e. I still get the blue screen with me and
all my kids icons to select from.) This doesn't seem right to me, but it
does sound like my computer is booting from the cd when I "press any key to
boot from cd."

If Windows is loading (and what you mean by the "full program") then you
did not boot from the CD. Either you pressed a key too late when
prompted after the POST screen, you are using a USB keyboard on a legacy
host (so the USB keyboard is not yet recognized), or your BIOS is not
configured to boot from the CD device *before* the hard disk device.

If you are using a USB keyboard, it requires that you also use a host
whose BIOS supports legacy USB devices (i.e., USB keyboard and USB
mouse). If it doesn't, that USB device will not be recognized until the
USB drivers are loaded by the OS. If the OS has loaded to load the USB
driver(s) then it is too late to run anything from the install CD. Plug
the keyboard into the PS/2 port for the keyboard (you may need to use a
USB-to-PS2 adapter on the keyboard or get a PS/2 keyboard). Or boot
into the BIOS and configure its BIOS to support legacy USB devices (but
then the USB keyboard is dead so you can't even do the setup in BIOS and
will still have to connect the keyboard to the PS/2 port).

Because you saw the "press a key to boot from CD" message, it is likely
that the BIOS is configured to boot from the CD drive (and hopefully it
is configured so the CD/DVD device is listed before the hard disk device
in the boot device sequence order in the BIOS). However, because it
continue onto loading Windows even after you have hit a key make me
think you are using a USB keyboard but your BIOS does not support legacy
USB devices or hasn't been enabled to support them. You can hit the
keys on your USB keyboard all you want but none of those keypresses will
be recognized until the USB drivers are loaded by the OS and that is
after the OS has already loaded.

Grace,
If the current working version of XP is SP2 or SP3. You need to create a new
CD with the XP Upgrade CD plus XP SP2 or SP3 installation file, by Slip
Streaming into the files on the upgrade CD.

Your Upgrade XP CD, may not contain any service Packs, or just XP SP1. So to
use the repair feature, you need to remove all updates, to the so that the
PC is running the same version of XP that the Upgrade CD is, or Uninstall
XP, to the point of earlier OS that you upgraded from.

Instructions on Slip Streaming XP SP2, this can be used to Slip Stream XP
SP3:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...slipstream.asp

As mentioned before, an alternative, would be to Delete, then recreate the
C:\ Partition, and reinstall XP fresh, and all other applications that you
have installed.

--
Add MS to your News Reader: news://msnews.microsoft.com
Rich/rerat (RRR News) message rule
Previous Text Snipped to Save Bandwidth When Appropriate


"Grace" wrote in message
...
Hi LVTravel,

Thank you for your help. I did boot with the XP Upgrade CD. I couldn't get
it to go through the setup. It stops before any setup can be done and tells
me that it can't continue due to the newer version running.

I do boot following the computer's instructions to "press any key to boot
from CD"

I press "Enter"...it then sounds like my computer is booting from my CD, but
it still brings up what looks like the normal Windows XP screen with mine
and
my kids icons.

I think I'm going to attempt using the Win98 boot disk and try it that way.

Thanks so much.

"LVTravel" wrote:

In this case, you need to boot with the XP Upgrade CD, go through the
setup
and have it delete the partition where the current installation is and
then
have it create a new partition and format that.

Since the "installation" program that is running sees a newer version of
XP
it doesn't want to delete a possible working OS.


"Grace" wrote in message
...
I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer using my XP
Home
Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work. However, when I try it, it
states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on this computer
than
is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is speaking of is
SP1
and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted? I've tried the
boot disks that Microsoft offers, after changing the BIOS to Floppy, of
course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the fact that the
old
computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks won't
recognize.)
{After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one carries
floppies
anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand new that I
made
the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above), after
changing
the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)

Just wanted to let you know....

it was a USB keyboard that was causing the problem. Switched to an old
keyboard and it worked perfectly!

Thanks for your help!

"Chet" wrote:

Of great historical significance to all, Grace
declared on Fri, 25 Jul 2008
16:50:01 -0700:

I have tried to format the hard drive of my old computer
using my XP Home Upgrade CD. I've read that this will work.
However, when I try it, it states that:

Setup cannot continue because there is a newer version on
this computer than is on this disk.

I'm guessing, of course, that the "newer" version it is
speaking of is SP1 and SP2.

Can anyone tell me how to get that hard drive formatted?
I've tried the boot disks that Microsoft offers, after
changing the BIOS to Floppy, of course.
(That unfortunately didn't work, possibly due to the
fact that the old computer
has a newer microsoft keyboard that the boot disks
won't recognize.) {After
paying almost $10 for 10 floppies! Because no-one
carries floppies anymore.
This is just to let you know the floppies were brand
new that I made the boot
disks from, in case that matters.}

I've tried using the XP Home Upgrade CD (as mentioned above),
after changing the BIOS to cdrom.

(I do have my ME disk, if necessary.)


You might find some assistance from Michael Stevens articles:

How do I format a NTFS/Fat/Fat32 drive with XP installed?
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/format_XP.htm

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

hth
--
com
"I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid."
- Terry Bradshaw -

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You were right! It was the USB keyboard
causing the problems! (Well, I did uninstall SP2, Internet Explorer, and
Windows Media player prior to switching the keyboard.)

Switched keyboard this morning and it worked perfectly!!!!

Thanks so much!!!!


"VanguardLH" wrote:

Grace wrote:

Sorry, VanguardLH...
I was replying to LV Travel. I apologize.

In response to your advice, I can't even get to the correct setup area as
far as I can tell.

Even when i boot from the XP Upgrade CD...I still get what looks like the
entire program booting up. (I.e. I still get the blue screen with me and
all my kids icons to select from.) This doesn't seem right to me, but it
does sound like my computer is booting from the cd when I "press any key to
boot from cd."

If Windows is loading (and what you mean by the "full program") then you
did not boot from the CD. Either you pressed a key too late when
prompted after the POST screen, you are using a USB keyboard on a legacy
host (so the USB keyboard is not yet recognized), or your BIOS is not
configured to boot from the CD device *before* the hard disk device.

If you are using a USB keyboard, it requires that you also use a host
whose BIOS supports legacy USB devices (i.e., USB keyboard and USB
mouse). If it doesn't, that USB device will not be recognized until the
USB drivers are loaded by the OS. If the OS has loaded to load the USB
driver(s) then it is too late to run anything from the install CD. Plug
the keyboard into the PS/2 port for the keyboard (you may need to use a
USB-to-PS2 adapter on the keyboard or get a PS/2 keyboard). Or boot
into the BIOS and configure its BIOS to support legacy USB devices (but
then the USB keyboard is dead so you can't even do the setup in BIOS and
will still have to connect the keyboard to the PS/2 port).

Because you saw the "press a key to boot from CD" message, it is likely
that the BIOS is configured to boot from the CD drive (and hopefully it
is configured so the CD/DVD device is listed before the hard disk device
in the boot device sequence order in the BIOS). However, because it
continue onto loading Windows even after you have hit a key make me
think you are using a USB keyboard but your BIOS does not support legacy
USB devices or hasn't been enabled to support them. You can hit the
keys on your USB keyboard all you want but none of those keypresses will
be recognized until the USB drivers are loaded by the OS and that is
after the OS has already loaded.