Boot from the 'old' CD and tell the setup program to reformat the drive the
'newer' version of XP is on. Just remember doing this will totally erase
everyhting on that drive.

"Aspen" <Aspen@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A167881D-2413-4890-85A1-08ADB9A692F2@microsoft.com...
>I am trying to install an older version of XP to replace a newer version of
> XP with SP2. I receive a message stating that it won't install because a
> newer version of XP is on the computer. This is an attempted reformat
> onto a
> Dell computer that's about 3 years old. The installation disc I'm using
> is
> the original supplied at the time of computer purchase and I would like to
> use the original disc. Any ideas how to override it?