There is no key to boot from the cd. You must go into Setup (the bios) and change the boot order to put the cd drive first. Save the settings and reboot. You will see "Press any key to boot from cd" if you did it correctly. Directions here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2200/syssetup.htm#1097056 Press the key too early rather than too late. I hold the key even before the Dell screen appears. Before you do that, however, have you used Ad Aware and removed all spyware? That might cure your slowdown problem.

Do you have a usb keyboard> . . you will have to change out to a PS/2 for the installation.

wrs

Well, Mary G, I have finally sat down to try this, and after spending two days hassling with a new installation of Norton Ghost 9.0 to "back-up" my hard drive.

And, when I follow the instructions:

"1. Turn on (or restart) your computer

"2. When the blue DELL logo appears, press immediately."

AND I am careful not to "wait too long"

AND then I get a brief message "Board Failure" and then it boots from the hard drive and the Win XP logo appears, etc. ,etc.

This cannot be good, can it?  Suggestions?  Remember, I am trying to boot from the CD drive so I can re-install WIN XP Home Edition, hoping it will speed up my computer.

Joel - Albuquerque NM

Yes, I am using wireless Dell/Logitech keyboard and mouse, which connects via USB.  I can easily borrow a PS/2 keyboard.  That will help?

Joel/Albuquerque

I'd bet on it!