Hi, it's been almost a month since I've tried to clean install Windows XP SP3 from a bootable USB, and nothing works. This is my problem (beware: noob ingenuity):
1. I have a Dell Inspiron Mini10 (v) that came with XP SP3 pre-installed. (No CD drive, only USB, of course)
2. I installed Ubuntu in a partition.
3. I didn't like Ubuntu and found no way to uninstall and get rid of the partition, so accidentally (impulsively) I deleted the partition where I thought Ubuntu was, but instead I deleted Windows!
4. On another computer I've made bootable usb's from the "CD reinstallation with XP SP3" but *only from this CD*, which I think is my mistake. I've followed the tutorials on this site, on
this site / and on youtube, and it NEVER WORKS:
5. While installing (the HD got 100% formatted in ntfs the first time, then in FAT), I get the famous errors "missing hal.dll" and "no computer system and hardware error".
6. With no OS, my last try was to install a newer version of Ubuntu (12) and now formatted with FAT, just to see if there was any hardware failure, but the installation went ok.
7. However, I still don't want Ubuntu and instead want a full and clean installation of my original system. I have the 3 CDs that came with the computer: "Operating System XP SP3", "DELL drivers and utilities" and "Dell Application". I think the bootable usb doesn't work because it doesn't contain the files from the other two CDs.
So my question is:
Can I make a bootable USB from these 3 CDs and **HOW**?
Thanks in advance. This is sooooo frustrating.