Won't Boot From CD

[ryangruhn]

Hey All,

I recently had the need to do a reinstall of XP on my machine and it won't boot from the CD. When I go into windows it can read the CD fine but won't boot from it. I changed the order for it to have the CD drive first, then diskette and then HD but it still wont work. It will boot from a floppy fine.

Any Ideas?

Gruhn

[-pops-]

Try doing this from a cold boot (if you haven't already).

To do this, insert the CD and shut down. Next turn off all power (pull the plug) to the machine (important to do this) and let it rest for a few minutes. That is to allow the residual power in the capacitors to discharge.

Then restore the power and reboot.

Doesn't always work but can't do any harm.

[catgate]

Speaking from the depth of my ignorance, it sounds like there is nothing to drive you CD. If you made a floppy "rescue" disk there should be ,on it ,all the bits and bobs to create a virtual drive in RAM and load a CD driver into it, so that you can then start up your CD drive to run your installation. At least we Luddites who are still using W98 (SE I might add) do it this way. Of course I may have mis-understood your question or I might be talking rubbish, but in any case welcome, and someone will be along shortly with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

[Scarecrow Man]

Sometimes it says.. "Press any key to boot from CD"

I know it sounds strange, but have you done this?

[ryangruhn]

Great thoughts guys,

I am going to try the cold boot thing. What I have been doing is waiting for the "Press any key...." to come up and it jsut never does. This is a lap top...should I try taking out the battery then a cold boot?

Gruhn

[ryangruhn]

No luck with the cold boot. I also tried pressing a key even though it did not state "Press any key..." and that did not work either. To go a little further into my problem. All I need to do is to get it to boot from that dang CD. I can log into windows and all but there is a bunch wrong with the operating system and every time I fix somthing another problem comes up.

Gruhn

[Daphne]

If you own an older machine follow Catgate's hints. you'll startup disks at

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

If you have XP SP2 you might always create your specific startup disk. Otherwise:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...B7-4FED408EA73F

Always check your version code

[ryangruhn]

It sounds like teh boot disk are the way to go. I will try that and let you guys know if it works!

Thanks!

Gruhn

[-pops-]

I didn't appreciate this was a laptop but never mind.

This CD you have, is it a real XP disc or one of those recovery discs that are so often supplied, especially with laptops?

If it is a recovery disc then possibly it doesn't contain the operating system at all, but just points your computer to a hidden and protected part of the hard drive which does have XP on it. If so, then you will most likely need to follow the laptop maker's detailed instructions to get it going again.

[ryangruhn]

It's thee disk =)