Computer Not Booting

i have a problem with my computer. it switches on ok (begining of bootup - POST) but from there on it remains stuck. it wont even boot from cd even if i set the boo priority to boot from cdrom first.

any ideas of what it could be?

can you get into the bios by tapping f2 during bootup ?

jamesd1981 said:

can you get into the bios by tapping f2 during bootup ?

Click to expand...

It's not F2 for every computer though, and, he already said he changed the CD Drive to boot.

Xwardos, are you getting any beeps?

Try disconnecting everything but the main hard drive. Power and data cables. If that does not fix it, take every stick of RAM out, and put it in the first bank (it should be labeled as 0 or Slot 0 or something similar). If it doesn't work, put it one bank down, keep doing that for as long as it does not work, until you reach the last bank. Still not working? Go through the next stick of RAM, until you are through them all. This is to test if your RAM is giving you hell. Get back to us once you are done.

This usually means you have bad hardware somewhere. Remove all hardware not required to boot the system. Remove hard drive, and addin pci cards, usb devices and try booting up to see if it finishes the post. I've seen bad hard drives and cdroms cause this issue. You also may want to try removing and reinserting memory and video card if using a dedicated card.

have you tried flashing the BIOS, removing the cmos battery and putting it back in, or is there anything wrong with the hard drive like a dodgy cable?

thanks for the tips guys,

i'll give it all a try and get back to you with an update.

cheers

Edward

apparently i have one of the ram slots playing up. i removed one of the ram modules and it's now booting from cd.

but i have met another problem new. after you press enter to boot the winxp cd, the cd loads and then you choose to repair or enter to install. once i press R for example, the "please wait" show's as it should but it remains stuck there and doesn't continue.

what could that be?

You should google some of the guides for doing a repair install of XP. All the ones I've seen say not to choose the Repair option at the point you mention (don't use the Recovery Console). I can't offer advice from experience because all my Windows disks immediately format the HDD!