Clean reainstall of Windows XP from the web

[szaflik]

I had the misfortune of purchasing a program called RegistrySmart, which was to "clean-up and restore my system". It ate part of the registry, and after a months haggling with RegistrySmart I am left with a refund and two diseased Dell laptops (Inspiron 8100 and Inspiron 8200). I decided to do a "clean" reinstallation of Windows XP. unfortunately the System Discs are long lost. I do have the product keys (holographic label at the base of the laptop) Question: How do I do a deep HD reformat and Windows XP resinstallation from the web?
I'd greatly appreciate a quick answer.
Thanks a million.
Szaflik

 

[stevecook]

You should be able to make a disk, see this site:

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml

 

[DaveA]

Since they are Dells, see about getting the CD's for each model from them.
These CD's will include the Dell drivers that you are going to need.

 

[szaflik]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I immediately ran into an obstacle: the I386 folder is missing from root directories on both computers. I do have the DELL driver CD's from Dell. Is there anything that can be done at this point?
Thanks.

 

[Old Rich]

http://support.dell.com/support/top...ackupcd_form?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&redirect=1