Ok...I had been using Windows XP for a while, then someone told me that I need Service Pack 2 to be safe. So I downloaded it, and started installing, but then it said "Access is denied" and started uninstalling itself. Then it requested a restart, so I clicked "Restart Now."

It started to boot up normally, but after the Windows loading screen, it turned all black. Then the computer made a beeping noise, and a blue screen with words on it flashed for a fraction of a second before re-booting again. The blue screen was annoying because it flashed too fast for me to read anything on it. So if I were to not touch anything, the computer would boot in a loop and never stop.

So I tried using the Windows repair CD for Dell (even though my computer isn't a dell), but when it booted it said:
"Bootsector Write ! !:
Virus continue? (y/n)"

I decided to get a brand new harddrive, and tried to just boot from the normal Windows CD, but it wouldn't boot from the CD. Everytime, I don't remember exactly what it said, but it would basically say that it could either not read the CD rom, or could not detect there was a CD in it. But it could read the other CD i put in it earlier, so I couldn't tell what the problem was.

Then I tried booting from a windows 2000 CD. It told me there was a virus in the bootsector, which I don't know why, because it's a brand new harddrive. But it gave me the option to override it, which I did, and installed it and it operated no problem. Currently I am upgrading from windows 2000 to XP, however I'm afraid that the same problem I originally had with my old harddrive will show up again, and I won't be able to boot.

Judging from what has happened, do I have a bootsector virus or no? I'm not exactly sure what to do.

Hi Dustoff,
No, you don't have a bootsector virus. The warning you received came from the BIOS. They all have an option like "Boot sector virus warning" build in. (The exact name of that option depends on your BIOS manufacturer and version.) This option prevented successful installation of Win98 already when turned on and maybe it interferes with newer operating systems, too. Whenever the boot sector is written, the alarm goes off and writing the boot sector is what every OS needs to do during installation. I didn't know that SP2 installs a new boot sector, too but it apparently does:
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/ar...20/505887.aspx

Simply go to the BIOS, switch that option off and try again. If you don't find it, please tell us if you have a Phoenix-Award or AMI BIOS and how old your computer is.
This is strange since all XP CDs should be bootable. Maybe this part of the CD is defective (scratch).