I have a Dell Dimension 4100 operating w/ Windows ME. I recently purchased a new 80 GIG HD and went to install and load Windows XP. I removed the old HD and plugged in the new one (no longer using the old one), set the BIOS to read the CD and when I started I received a msg that said invalid boot drive, please insert boot disc in drive A: It doesn't seem to recognize the XP CD no matter what I do. Any suggestions?

Try a Win 98 bootdisk and partion and format your new drive. You may have to start smartdrive and copy the Xp files to the non boot partition and load from there.
I am taking for granted your bios sees the new HDD .
Dell bios are proprietary and might be giving you a hard time.
You should check their web site to see if they recommend Xp on that model.I'm sure it is OK but you may discover some drivers etc. that they have tested for it.

Hello and welcome to techspot.

You can also get Windows xp bootdisks.

Have a look at http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

Your old harddisk has the boot-partition. Stick it back in in its original place as master, and make the new HD the slave. Problem solved. XP does not mind where it sits.

Hello, have just installed new hard drive and new dvd burner into IBM celeron PC ,(old HDD crashed) I have tried to load Windows XP Pro SP2 a number of times ,it runs through the setup procedure until the user agreement and after OKing this it asks for the a disc to be put in the drive, it will not carry on from there help