Help with installing Windows

[bAN kAI]

I just built a new computer and now Im trying to install Windows XP. When I turned my computer on I forgot to plug in the keyboard. The computer booted up the cd and the initial windows setup said push enter to start setup of windows xp. I grabbed my keyboard and plugged it in, pushed enter, and nothing happened. I figured it was because I started the computer without plugging in the keyboard. So I held the start button down and turned the computer off, gave it like 30 seconds to cool down, and turned it back on. Now all Im getting is a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top left corner.

Anyone know what is going on? I think I can rule out hardware malfunction or faulty install because it started to work the first time. Please help me out with this problem guys. Its supposed to be a christmas present for my brother so any responses ASAP would be really appreciated.

 

[PC eye]

The problem most likely is that the boot order has the hard drive set as the first item. With no boot information on the drive since it hasn't been OSed yet that is all you will see when trying to boot from. If you take a working system and change the boot order to boot from a second drive used for storage only you will also see the flashing _ in the upper left hand corner and nothing else.

Are you familiar with partitioning and formatting a new hard drive? First if you have never used any partitioning tool like Partition Magic or the free Linux tool GParted you will have to use the XP installer to see a new primary partition created and formatted when the installer later copies the Windows setup files onto the drive itself.

Some boards will see a boot device menu where you can leave the HD set as default and choose from a menu for the one session boot from a floppy, optical, or another hard drive. That can be the F8 key just like the Windows boot menu uses or another assigned to bring that up. Refer to the board's user manual or online support to see if that option is included.

 

[StrangleHold]

I grabbed my keyboard and plugged it in, pushed enter, and nothing happened. I figured it was because I started the computer without plugging in the keyboard. So I held the start button down and turned the computer off, gave it like 30 seconds to cool down, and turned it back on. Now all Im getting is a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top left corner.

Was this a PS/2 keyboard, if so its not a good thing to plug in a PS/2 port while the computer is running, USB is a doesnt matter. When it boots are you getting a bios screen before the cursor?

 

[PC eye]

It may not be a good to practice for sure but the MS model keybaord(usb with P@/2 adapter) has to be unplugged in order to use a standard 101 key model just to see the F8 key work at the license agreement when installing Windows an MS product! Figure that one out!

I usually end up simply booting with the roll up vinyl keyboard plugged in until the first desktop is seen and plug the MS Media Pro Intellitype model plugged back in. If you are still able to see the post screen with or without the full screen logo enabled in the bios the black screen with flashing _underscore is simply from a drive set as the default boot device not having boot information or the drive is failing.

I've been into that on a few systems looked over lately where repair or full installs would freeze up and the primary could be removed while you couldn't create a new one. The replacement would see Windows go on with ease.