I have been reading through your posts on reformatting and feel that this is my only option. I have a Vista laptop that will just not boot no matter what I do. I do not have vista disk, but do have xp disk from alternate computer. Will this work?

Thanks so much.
ML

Since your machine is Vista, that means that it will have a Vista COA on the bottom of the laptop (unless you have an XP downgrade license that you ordered with your machine if it is Vista Business).

Installing with an XP disk won't work as you will be prompted for a Product Key that comes from the COA. Using another computers Product Key is not recommended and a tad illegal.

I'd suggest wandering into a local computer shop and seeing if they will make you a copy of the Vista disk you need (not illegal as you actually pay for the COA sticker)

Thanks so much. I figured there were some legalities involved here, but wasn't sure about how it all worked. Thanks again!

No problem

Just to take another angle on this (although snowchick's advice is IMO the best course of action here), you almost certainly can get an install of XP to work on that. But you will need a key for it (since the vista one won't work) and you will also need to find drivers for a ton of things; chipset, video, trackpad, sound, ect. So if you think you absolutely have to have XP then it can be done, I just don't recommend it.