I know this isn't really the best place to ask, but I remember some of you had problems first upgrading to Win XP Pro. I've had to reinstall a couple of times now. First time upgraded from 98 and started getting an error message. Found out it was a problem that sometimes came up doing an upgrade. This time did full install of XP and now it craps out telling me that my Windows/System folder is hosed. Is this a problem anyone else had in the XP move? I suppose it could be an HD problem instead of XP, but I really don't know. Any ideas? Here's the system specs: AMD Athlon 2800+ cpu 1 Gig memory 120 Gig Maxtor HD

I have XP Pro and nary a problem AMD 3500+ 1 GIG You say you did a "full install" is that the same as this: I ALWAYS do a clean install. That means I completely initialize the hard drive, install Windows XP Pro, then institue any updates from Bill. Obviously, if your XP Pro disc is older, be sure you are on SR2. ::::: Opera :::::

And be certain to initialize the harddrive as NTFS! Anything else is useless...

You can create a new system partition during setup (you'll probably have to delete older partitions first). That's the way I always install XP - delete old system partition, create a new one, full (not quick) NTFS format. That'll make sure any crap from previous OS installations is removed.

Agreed, svdl. That's basically what I meant. :)

BACKUP 1ST!..you'll be glad you did..or..uh..did you?

NTFS is a good file structure, but remember that the format is a one way street. Once you format to ntfs, you can't go back to fat32, which could cause headaches if you decide to revert to an older OS. My recomendations are this. 1. Back up any data you want to keep. 2. Use and old windows 98/ME boot disk, and partition the hard drice into one primary partition and one extended partition. I set aside roughly 1/3 of the total disk space for the primary partition. 3 Keep the primary partition fat32, (backwards compatability) and install windows to that partition. 4.When you have xp installed, use the disk management snap-in (right click my computer and select manage), and format the extended partition to NTFS. (Use the NTFS volume to store programs and data. That way, if you suffer from a system failure and have to reformat your c drive, all you loose is your windows info.)

NTFS gives you some added security features on files and folders, and can support larger disks..but yeah, it's a one-way trip. Usually isn't too much trouble, as far as I've seen.

I put my systems behind a firewall during Windows installs until they are completely patched using Windows Update. Then I put anti-virus on them and no troubles.

Here's a very simple solution...wipe your drive completely. this will get rid of anything hindering the installation and operating of the OS. When you first install XP it should tell you what and how many partitions you have, also this same screen allows you to make new partitions. Delete the old ones format your HD and make new ones. this should solve your problems. PS: if you have an MS DOS disk use it. after your PC starts off this disk type, slate 1 on the command prompt, this will erase the drive completelty and leave it ready for a fresh install, plus it gets rid of half of the steps above.

D'oh! I forgot to repartition etc. and installed on top of the old installation. I had a feeling it was some shortcut like that. I was just so hacked off at having to do a reinstall I didn't think it through at the time. Hopefully that's all it was. Thanks all.