Hallo everyone, I'm new to this kind of thing so apologies in advance if I bugger it up.  I was given a COMPAQ 2500 notebook with some "issues" so I thought I'd try reinstalling XP to wipe it clean and remove all the other persons stuff.  I was a little worried about using my xp disc from the old HP desktop but did it anyway.  The normal screens CAME up and it asked if I wanted to delete the partition which I did because there was not enough room to install XP on a new partition and it looked to be loading but then it got to the end and said it couldn't start and shut down.  Now when I try to reboot I get an error message saying invalid boot ini FILE then next... following file corrupt:
\WINDOWS\system32\config\SYSTEM - it then says to put the CD which I do and I get another message saying press any key to boot from CD but  just as it gets to the screen that says R for repair or Enter to start the computer shuts down.  Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Is the XP disk you are using an OEM disk? What does the label on the disk say?The disc was the one that came with my desktop bought new from Harvey Norman.  It says Microsoft Windows xp home edition with a holographic Genuine/Microsoft down the bottom of the disc.
ThanksThe message you are getting indicates a corrupt registry hive. We're kind of stuck here because we're not supposed to help with "illegal" installations and XP's license is limited to one system. Let me just say that if I were you I'd start over from scratch.Call HP and ask whether they have a restore disc for that computer?  If they have it, they will ship it to you for a fee.  This would cost much less than buying the OS at retail cost.