Solved: cannot reinstall xp

ok, so I cannot reinstall windows. Ive got a dimension E520 (not sure the motherboard, whatever comes with an E520).

I've tried CTRL-F11 at boot, which has always worked in the past, but it doesn't work now. I HAD 2 windows operating systems installed at one point. I deleted one from the hard drive, but still comes up as a choice during startup.

I have tried running i385 files, but EVERY .EXE file I run it asks me which program to run it with. Which I have no idea what to do here. I can't run Steam.exe, Firefox.exe, or Chrome.exe. I'm assuming this is some sort of virus. Lol I can't even run a virus scan without it asking me what program I want to use to run the .exe file.

So any help?? I would love to totally reformat/reinstall windows xp. I've really got nothing important on this computer, so any help/ideas would be awesome!

 

This is 100% surely a malware problem.
deleting windows from the hard disk dosent wipe it out from the boot menu .
Use EasyBCD to delete the Obselete Entry.
Go to to the BIOS and set the Boot priority to CD/DVD Drive at first.
Then Boot using the XP CD
It will ask you to press any key and then the XP Setup will start.
See this Site for a step by step guide
http://www.buildeasypc.com/sw/windows_xp.htm

 

Well thank you for the quick help. But I cannot run EasyBCD, because it asks me to find a program to run pretty much every .exe I have. And thats where I am lost, due to this virus/malware.

LOL I tried calling dell support to make sure CTRL-F11 was the correct keyboard combination to use to reinstall windows from boot. And they tried to charge me 50$ JUST to tell me the keyboard combination to push during startup.

 

They have just ****ed you out
Just load them with S.H.I.t bombs
BTW, do you have the Win XP CD?

 

F2 for BIOS
F12 for boot options

 

yup ive got the windows xp cd. But it doesn't give me the option of repairing windows or anything like that. Its got a "install windows" option, but when I click on it nothing happens.

 

Hiya, have you reached BIOS yet by pressing F2 when you start the machine

 

Yup well I finally got it all figured out and done. Found my OS cd, went into the BIOS/Boot sequence and ran from CD. Removed both OS partitions, reformatted everything. Reinstalled windows, and all drivers, and now I'm up and running again. Thanks for the help

 

glad your up and running,could you you please mark your thread as solved,g/luck Huggie54