Fresh reinstall of XP on Acer laptop

My Acer Aspire is on its last gasp (extremely unstable).
I have backed up everything from the Acer.
In the past I paid an IT tech to re-install WinXP onto this dying laptop, about every 12 months.

I have NEVER installed an OS in my life, and the thought of BIOS is akin to root-canal-therapy.

Would appreciate a one hit helper with step by step instructions.
I dont know my way around Control Panel.
Instructions for a moron !!!

The Acer originally came (from factory) with Vista. The Acer just could not handle Vista, so I paid somebody to install WinXP.

I will be your personal slave for life.

 

unless you have a product key and a disc for xp you cannot install.

the pc probably had a recovery partition, if the IT guy did not wipe the drive when he installed xp, and if the recovery partition is still there it will be for Vista, since that is what came on the pc originally.

the product key you have now, probably on the bottom of the pc is for vista.

the xp you had installed is probably a Volume license which can be installed for a certain number of times before it will be blocked and cannot be activated again.

Did the IT guy give you an installation disc and a product key for xp?

if so I can give you install instructions.

you have an acer aspire, what is the model number?

Do you see all your threads now?

 

Reinstalling WinXP on an Acer laptop

@ Elizabeth2

Thank you for your reply.
My applogies for not responding to you earlier, I get snowed under on many days.

DISK + PRODUCT KEY:
I have the original OEM disc ("For distribution with a new PC") -- and the product key.

HARD DRIVE:
Was reformatted (although I do have recovery discs for Vista) but I would prefer to stay away from Vista

ACER DETAILS
Acer Aspire 5315
Intel Celeron processor 530 ... I am told "not the sharpest knife in the drawer"
2GB RAM ... IT tech installed the extra RAM
80GB HDD ... more than enough for browsing and email
802.11 b/g WLAN ... WiFi ?

Thank you so much for your offer of help

 

@ Elizabeth2

Forum protocol after 0ne minute would not let me edit my last post

EDIT:
(Could not reply to your private message, I don't have enough posts, require 15, I have 10)
My threads, I get as far "User CP" but cannot locate the "path" to the list of all my threads

 

http://www.xpforums.com/search.php?searchid=110
list of all your threads, which can be found when you click on Your name, and look under statistics Tab.

link to each of your threads:

http://www.xpforums.com/fresh-reinstall-xp-acer-laptop-t931427.html

http://www.xpforums.com/my-threads-t931417.html

http://www.xpforums.com/automatic-updates-turned-off-nag-t931422.html

http://www.xpforums.com/does-xp-support-end-t931418.html

http://www.xpforums.com/login-administrator-rejected-t931416.html

----------------------------

will post back with instructions

 

http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/210776-acer-aspire-5315-a.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/185975-installing-xp-aspire-5315-came-vista.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ace...-install-applicable-most-laptops-systems.html

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reading the above threads is a must for you. You are going to have to know how to get into your bios to change the boot sequence to cd, and change the drive to IDE, since you have sata drives and xp will not find a hard drive installed if you did not change to ide.

---------------------------

Do you still want to continue? this is going to be quite intensive to install since you have sata drives and xp will require a different set of drivers.

read the 3 threads above thoroughly and get back to me and we can continue.

 

Clean Install WinXP on Acer Aspire 5315

@ Elizabeth 23

My apologies for not following up on your last offer of help.
Serious illness has laid me low.

Have read I will need "Acer Launch Manager" -- but I cannot find it anywhere.
And will I need it ? So many conflicting "experts" on the web !
The Acer has web buttons which I have never used, I can live without them.
WiFi appears to be the only sticking point, or maybe I am in fantasy land.

I have not read your last post nor the extra reading you prescribed.

I will bump this thread when I am ready.

Thank you for your patience

 

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers

under applications is the Acer launch manager, I chose united states for the country, if you are not in the us you will have to go to the home page, choose country, then enter acer aspire 5315 and os windows xp 32bit unless yours is 64 bit and you will find it there.

 

Acer is a bad brand. Why didn't you get something more wordly used and stable?