black screen, blinking cursor

[filterofsyntax]

Ok, so I have a new problem. I'm going through and installing XP, it copies all the files and then reboots (normal). Then when it's supposed to go to the operating system to finish up the install it does 1 of 2 things:

1. If I have the cd in, it goes right back and starts the install all over (never asks "press any key to boot to cd")
2. If I don't have the cd in, it goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left corner, and stays there forever.

I've unplugged all the unnecessary periph's, and checked my 2 sticks of ram. Any thoughts?

It's a Dell Optiplex GX260.

Thanks.

 

[thothgyro]

If nothing else works I would install a different OS, possibly Linux, and then retry the install, I had to do that once, and it worked fine after I installed Red Hat, and then reformatted during the install of XP (the quick format didn't work with it though)