Repair reinstall in XP

Load the XP CD in the top CD drive and restart

Press F12 for BOOT MENU at the dell logo screen

Select IDE CDROM hit enter

When you get the message “Press any key to boot from CD” hit enter immediately

Windows XP Setup screen will appear loading files

When the screen “Welcome to windows” appears

Press ENTER

Press F8 for license screen agreement

Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.

Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair.

Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot.  Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.