Windows XP and W2K

Clarifications

When backwards migrating you may have to find appropriate drivers for Win2k. I had to find new graphic card and sound card drivers that were already in XP but not in 2k.Try your hardware manufacturer's website.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

http://support.dell.com, click the drivers download icon on the middle left of the page. On your computer is a service tag and express service code number, could be on the side or back, its usually a small black plastic sticker. Enter the service tag number and click go. Download the right driver for your video card. To check what driver, on the XPHome machine, right click on My Computer and choose Manage. In the new window that opens, choose the device manager icon omn the left panel. On the right hand panel you should see a list, choose the display adapters icon, and expand it by clicking on the plus sign. See what card is listed. Now, on the Dell site, download the driver for XP for the card listed in Device Manager. You will probably need to get several other drivers, such as sound card.

I did the same thing. A laptop(Micron) with Win 2k added Xp Pro and ended up with a dual boot machine, ok but I was trying to overwrite the 2k version. Finally reformatted drive externally and reinstalled Xp Pro. Or partition and add Xp Pro on second partition.

Go to Dell's sight and get most recent video/graphics drivers.

Pat,
First, from the sounds of it you are a newbie, nothing wrong with that but, find someone in your office or a friend that can help with the following to help speed the process and reduce frustration. Then have them help you do the following:
1. Check the boot seq on your PC and set the system to boot from the CD first then the HD.
2. Find your master CDs from Dell and you should have a system restore for Windows XP
(WARNING) if you have word documents, pictures, etc. save them to a floppy, thumb drive or CD, because the hard drive is going to be formatted and you will lose everything on the hard drive so back up or save any documents you don't want to lose.
3. Insert the system restore CD in the computer and turn it on, with the system set to boot from the CD first it should see the CD, boot from it and it should walk you through the restore. If asked to format the HD do so, don't do the repair option.
4. This should put the system back the way it was when it was delivered and install all the drivers, applications, etc.
5. The problem with the 4 colors/terrible resolution you are experiencing now is that the video drivers are not installed for your video.
6. Once the system is up and running, go back into the BIOS and reset the boot up sequence to boot from the HD first so your system boots from the HD, then CD, etc. or whatever sequence you want so it comes up faster.

If you are able to get online, go into the device manager, find your display, click properties, drivers, update drivers, let Windoze search for an update, check include Windoze update in the search. It may solve your problem....

Did your PC come with any cd's? One of these will be the drivers disk. Use it to load drivers. First and foremost is to load the Chipset driver. Then most of the Hardware wil plug 'n play.

Try formating the disk before doing a clean installation. Make sure you have made a backup before doing this.