Korean Job Discussion Forums

inthezone · Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Location: seoul

Hi guys,

I want to put on an English Windows XP onto my notebook which is Korean O/S but when i run the disk and i check the compatability of the new O/S it throws an error :

"The language of this installation of Windows differs from the one you are installing. The option to upgrade will not be available".

1) Is it possible to format my drive, i mean have no O/S at all and then boot from disk ?

2) Do i have to partition it ? i mean does there have to be an existing O/S to upgrade to another O/S ?

3) Is there a way to change the settings so that the new disk will be compatible ?

My O/S now :
Windows XP home edition version 2002, Sevice pack 2.
LG xnote, 1.83GHz, 987MHz, 1 gig RAM.

Thanks.

JustJohn · Joined: 18 Oct 2007 Location: Your computer screen

Never done this before so I can't help much. I see no reason why you should get that error. Windows is being a jerk.

My guess is you may need to format and reinstall.

denverdeath · Joined: 21 May 2005 Location: Boo-sahn

Try a cold reboot with the Eng xp cd in the drive and keep an eye on the screen while it boots up. I'm assuming you only tried to do this by placing the cd in the drive while you already had the computer running and you got the options for a reinstall, repair, etc, right? Anyway, I believe you want to hit any key when the option comes up saying "Boot from cd/dvd:" No, you don't have to partition it. You can do a complete new install after deleting what's currently there. Just make sure that you have all of your original installation CDs in case you have some driver issues.

sojourner1 · Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:20 am Post subject:

What about formatting the hard disk and then installing the new XP? I would think this will work since it's the same identical technology to that in America or anywhere else. The only thing that is different is the OS language which MS intentionally does to protect its' intellectual property rights so that Asian countries don't go emulating it. MS is one smart American company that makes money and keeps its software developers adequately employed while keeping profits high to support the company and its employees. I know it's a head ache not understanding all this gibberish criss cross ching chong ding dong, but a reformat and install of a new OS should fix the problem.

StAxX SOuL · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Location: London

You�ve got to reinstall it... it�s a shame really because, for example, Windows Embedded offers users various MUIs to download and change the OS language but XP has no such functionality for the casual user so you end up re-buying...

Best thing to do is format the HD which means losing all your data and settings... thus, you�ll want to back up your files on an external device... the second, and flawed, method would be install a second copy of the same partition, but it�s not recommended, and can cause problems while wasting storage space so it�s not recommended even if you�re an advanced user and can pretty much minimise traces related to the previous install...

bellum99 · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: don't need to know

1: Put the disk in the drive.
2: Restart the computer with the disk in.
3: Format the drive
4: install windows

Sometimes it is easier to kill the beast and start over.

inthezone · Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Location: seoul

thanks guys for your tips

Yes i want to "kill the beast and start over" but thats the problem i am having i.e formatting the drive completely.

I have tried and when i boot up i go into the BIOS settings but can't seem to get it.

Any idea on how i format the drive completely ?

BTW the i don't have original discs for the O/S and the new O/S is a copy given to me by the school technician. I reckon it is a valid copy as i have not received and errors when checking for compatibilty on the net.

Thanks.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Been there, done that...

You do NOT need to format the drive.

You SHOULD backup your drivers to a CD. Laptop drivers are NOT universal and are usually NOT included on a winddows install CD.

When prompted, do a full install. It will install over the old copy of windows (overwriting everything as it does).

You may lose your "documents" folder but you CAN save everything in a folder on the "C" drive and it would be OK.

After windows is finished installing, install the drivers for your hardware and you are good to go.

IF you want to format the drive you need to boot from a CD and NOT from your "C" drive. You cannot format the "C" drive if you are booted from it.

In the BIOS, change the boot settings to an alternate drive or an optical drive.

Then you can format the "C" drive and do a fresh install.

.

inthezone · Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Location: seoul

When i booted form the CD before i got the windows setup and stuff and installing this and that but theh it comes to the part where it says press enter to install and gives other option to do recovery.

So i hit enter and it says no "hard drives found" press F3 to exit setup.

This happened all times i tried and also when i changed the boot to USB. Shocked

denverdeath · Joined: 21 May 2005 Location: Boo-sahn

aphase · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

If you delete the partition, make sure there is only one when you do it. The reason is because some computers (particularly notebooks) will have a small seperate partition to enable the computer to go into hibernate mode. Anyways if there are two partitions, and one of them is real small, delete only the biggest one and recreate it (and choose NTFS)

mrsquirrel · Joined: 13 Dec 2006

If you are using a pirated windows then there are a couple of copies of the CD out there that have given me this error before.

Try downloading a different version of it.

XP Black is not too bad but I have a few problems with it. Nobody else appears to but me though.