lost in office 2003 setup

[jab]

Historically, I have installed boxed version of Office2003 on top of an
upgrade to Office 1997 which itself was an upgrade to Works. Recently bought
boxed windows XP and installed to SP3 level. Now, when trying to load Office
1997 and then load Office 2003 in the new system i run into a problem getting
office 1997 installed before i can move to the office 2003 upgrade (expensive
enough). The error message says that my Works has a newer date than Office
1997 and therefore I am ineligible to upgrade to Office 1997. How can I get
back to Office 2003 level

 

[DL]

You don't need to install the qualifying versions in order to upgrade
Its not entirely clear from your post as to whether Works is installed or if
you just have a Works cd, if so is it a version that pre dates Office 2003?

Assuming you have a Works cd, pop the Office cd in and start its
installation, when it complains about no qualifying product, swap office cd
with works cd, and point the installation to it, once confirmed swap the
cd's and continue the installation

 

[DL]

I should have made it clear, 'pop office 2003 cd in' - forget the 97 cd