loading xp in locked ibm lap

[AMD&ME]

hi everybody. i found this forum awhile back and i've been watching it for awhile, great site.
now, first off, i know my way around graphics programs quite well but my computer skills pretty much end there so i need some help

I bought an IBM thinkpad T23 on ebay, it's in great shape, however, the bios is locked and the loaded windows XP is also locked with password, and the XP is french. (seller didn't mention either of these setbacks.) i can go look in the bios and luckily it is set to boot off the Cd rom first, also luckily, the hard drive is not locked. My question is, if i buy windows XP for the laptop, is XP like a boot disk, and is the Cd set so that my lap will recognize that i want to load the new windows and do it automatically or am i dreaming that it's that easy? If it's not that easy, what do i have to do?

thanks for any help and please exuse the newbishness of this question.

 

[Gorankar]

Just pop the cd in and it should boot from it.. Tell the install program to format the drive, and then install.. I first would make sure to download all the drivers for the laptop burn them to a cd.. And a bios update if available prolly would not hurt either..

If by locked you mean password protected, go online to Ibm's site and get the manual, it should tell you how to clear the cmos password.. Or contact the seller
and ask him/her what the password is..

 

[AMD&ME]

thank you very much