[slodave]

What brand. Dell does not always give out a Windows CD, but will have a partition on the HD that can either create a set of restore disks.

Baring the Vista CD issue, put the XP CD in the drive, boot to the optical drive - on Dell, hit F12 a few times right after you turn (or restart) the computer. You should see a sub menu, asking what drive to boot.

If that works, the XP cd should ask you if you want to format (do a Quick Format).

Hope this helps.

Dave