WinXP format problem

J

joep

New Member
I decided format my computer and let someone else have it since I got a new computer, nothing was wrong w/ it.

My original OS was Win 2000 and I decided to install XP home Ed.

My problem is: My computer cannot boot up the WinXP disc, therefore I need to run the setup program in Win2000. When I tried to delete the current partition (in the blue screen w/ white text), it says I cannot delete the current partition because some temp setup files are inside. I cannot install XP in the unpartitioned space either since it only has 8mb.

My question is: I know if the XP disc can boot up from the start, everything will be solved. However, it seems that my comp doesn't regconize the XP disc as boot disc (is my cd-rom screwed?). Is there any other way to do this? I just want to clean everything off my comp.
 
Sometimes you can the cd rom as the first boot device and still the hard drive is the item the system tries to boot with. One quick method to force boot from the cd or dvd drive installed is to set the optical as the only device in the boot order. Once the cd loads and you clean the drive you restore the normal setting. I've done that in order to get the system to load Linux boot disks at times where it still went after the MS primary.
 
yeah I was stupid enough to notice that, floppy was set as the primary boot device.

Thank you PC_eye and onion for pointing that out
 
I generally disable the floppy drive in the order unless going to work with a Linux distro or some other manual operation from a boot floppy. You can even disable the floppy controller along with the floppy search option. That will keep that from interfering unless you decide to go with Active Killdisk for a fast wipe from a floppy. Then you will need to boot from that.
 
Sometimes you can the cd rom as the first boot device and still the hard drive is the item the system tries to boot with.
Click to expand...
How does that happen? (short of a manual boot order override or not having a bootable disc)

One quick method to force boot from the cd or dvd drive installed is to set the optical as the only device in the boot order.
Click to expand...
Which is the equivalent of having the optical drive have a higher boot priority as compared to the harddisks. Removing the harddisks from the boot order will not prevent the system from booting off them (on more recent generation motherboards) ... if there is nothing bootable on the optical drives, the machine will then look for the first bootable device.

I've done that in order to get the system to load Linux boot disks at times where it still went after the MS primary.
Click to expand...
Would be easier to do a one-time manual boot override :)
 
Praetor said:
How does that happen? (short of a manual boot order override or not having a bootable disc)
Click to expand...

If the bios has it's own F8 boot menu you have the option of overiding the default drive order. Without that a simple miss of the option to load from the cd rom when the short line scrolls results in the auto loading of the primary.

Praetor said:
Which is the equivalent of having the optical drive have a higher boot priority as compared to the harddisks. Removing the harddisks from the boot order will not prevent the system from booting off them (on more recent generation motherboards) ... if there is nothing bootable on the optical drives, the machine will then look for the first bootable device.


Would be easier to do a one-time manual boot override :)
Click to expand...

At times when dual OSing here with two instead of one hard drive installed the boot device search would still go right after one of the hard drives due to the mbr detection. In order to insure that the optical is sought you can disable the boot from HD#0, HD#1, and so forth by selecting the cd rom and a quick disable of any hard drive or floppy items in the bios boot order.

I've done this often to force the XP installer to load rather then see corrupted mbr or missing ntldr messages appear. This is a quick method to get the cd rom to be the default device. You only use this setting until the installer completes and auto boots once files are fully copied. You then re-enter the bios after to set the normal boot order. This can also get you around the "failure to detect hard drive" errors that can come up. Give it a try sometime with any bootable cd.

On some systems I've seen the cd rom set as the first three devices and watched it still search for a hard drive! I said wait a minute the cd is in the drive and it still looks for the HD? :confused: Alright! set the boot order to strictly optical and waa laa the cd then decides to load. :D At first it sounds ridiculus until you get stuck sometime knowing the cd rom is the first in the boot order and still see it try to autoload from the drive. If the XP cd is more then a simple upgrade disk such as a recovery or full version the installer will then run.

One alternative if you still see your disk boot up and are unable to delete the current and create the new primary would be the Linux Gnome Partition Editor called GParted. To remove the old and create a new NTFS type primary ready for the installer or disk management to format you simply download and burn the iso image onto a cd. But that or Active Killdisk used on a boot floppy shouldn't be needed here.

If your XP cd is still unbootable you would have a bigger problem with a bad installation disk. :eek: You wouldn't be able to reinstall Windows or perform a repair install if and wnenever. The failure to load the installer at that point would then send the bios looking for another boot device. In that case you would use the alternate methods of either downloading and burning GParted live for cd that can create or delete NTFS, Fat32, Fat16, and Linux VFat12 partitions easily. It's a good partitioning tool to have onhand anyways. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php
 
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