Clean install of Windows XP: Can not boot from CD – “Press any Key” – I know the keyboard works…. (Advanced)

October 29, 2009

I have performed a clean install of Windows XP multiple times booting from a CD; however I seem to be experiencing difficults booting from our Dell Demension 8100. The keyboard works, as I am able to use it to load both the BIOS and Boot Choice Menu. I am also able to select the device to boot too. Once the device is selected, the message "Press Any Key" appears, I have tried pressing just single keys and also jamming as many keys as possible on the keyboard. However, no combinations appear to work. I am using a USB keyboard which appears to work fine during the boot sequence. Any help is appreciated.

I have also allowed it follow the boot order set in the BIOS. The "Press Any Key" is displayed and pressing single keys and/or combinations does not appear to work.

Thanks in advance.

How can I repair a crashed hard drive?

August 11, 2009

I’m looking at a friends laptop at the moment. It crashed, won’t boot, freezes at boot up and he lost all his files. I hooked his HDD up to my pc using an ide adapter and recovered the files no problem. My question is this though, having complete access to his windows folder, is there anyway of repairing the drive by configuring the files within it? is there any software out there that might scan for the problem maybe.

Cheers
Louise <><
It’s definitely the drive
It’s definitely the drive because I tried it out in another machine
ok so I formatted the drive, popped it back in the laptop and went to boot from cd drive which is first in boot sequence and I’m getting the error "ntldr is missing" .What now?

Installing a clean Windows XP?

June 24, 2009

I want to install a new clean OS of Windows XP on my computer.

How I usually do it is to boot from the OS CD then format the Hard drive then install a new Windows.

To do this i usually would change the priority boot sequence and put the CD-ROm Drive first… but this time it doesn't work?

I have the motherboard
INTEL D865GLC

It happens like this on all of my computers running this motherboard.

The computer will boot off the CD ONLY if there is no operating system currently on the Hard Drive.

But there is and and want to REdo it.

Is there a way to fix this, or is there another way to format the hard drive and then install a new OS?