Looks pretty strange...have you looked at the attributes on the folders to see if there is a read-only flag? Do you have another install of Windows that you can boot into with this drive as secondary and try to remove that way? Using the Recovery Console from the repair option in XP would also be a thing to try...possibly you could remove it from there. Atleast you just did the install...why not re-format quick NTFS and reinstall? Good luck!

Ya, i did the attrib -rash, nothing. it's like they are system files.

now that u mention it, I do have my old drive in there and i should be able to boot to it. Gonna try that tonite.

THanks,
D

nope, it crashes and reboots even in safe mode. no go there.

YES!! Finally got it done!!

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q308421

if you used the wrong serial number it might because you used the wrong number. Your best bet is to reformat and start clean.

like i said, i reinstalled with the correct number.
anyway, it's all taken care of