Hi there

I have a couple of problems with my pc software , so I wanted to do clean install of XP , but everytime I start up with the cd in , it just loads up xp mnormaly , the boot sequence is cd first boot , I thought it maybe a problem with my cd but I have tried my brothers XP and it still just boots up into normal windows , the cd-rom does whirll on start up . I have just this morning re-installed a programe so the cd-rom seems to be working ok .

cheers

Alright so It has nothing to do with Windows, I normally press F8 tons of times when it boots up and it normally comes up with a Boot Dialog, Like Boot to Hard Drive, Floppy, CD Rom, Network, etc.

I had this happen before, and I just pressed F8.

See if that works.

Some BIOS have a security setting that keeps the PC from booting removable media (Floppy or CDRom). You might check that.

Or... Your XP discs are both DVDs (that would be surprising) and your reader is cdrom.

Or, you have a very old and slow CRT screen and you don't see the "Press Any Key to boot from CD" message, or it's off the screen (up).

Have you got (and tried) an F12 (Boot Menu) function in your Bios ?

if boot sequence is right. press enter coniniously till boot begins. it helps.

Did it work?

Stupid comment/suggestion -

Brother trying to install XP on older HP Pavilion after putting in new HDD on Primary as Master (CD-ROM already on Secondary). Would not boot to CD and insisted on booting to HDD. After two days of over-the-phone troubleshooting (woohoo!), he noted that the CD-ROM jumper was set to Cable Select instead of Master. Stupid HP! (notice that he did not change anything else but HDD...). Changed the jumper and BAM! Case closed!

Soooo, check the Master/Slave settings on the devices as well as the BIOS boot order.

Did it work?

Hi there

Sorry for been a bit late in replying but been away working , No that did not work , there is two cd-roms and I tried to install from both but it keeps booting to hdd , yes i am pressing the space bar before it says press ant key to boot form cd , but still it wont , I am lost on this one , what I was going to do was take the hdd out and try it in another PC , what do you think .

cheers

yes i am pressing the space bar before it says press any key to boot form cd , but still it wont

That's the decisive info. You have a USB keyboard and you need to enable "Legacy USB" in Bios or something like that so that your keyboard works at that step. If you can't find that setting, use a PS2 keyboard if you have one and if your mobo allows.

there is two cd-roms and I tried to install from both but it keeps booting to hdd , yes i am pressing the space bar before it says press ant key to boot form cd , but still it wont , I am lost on this one , what I was going to do was take the hdd out and try it in another PC , what do you think .

cheers

Is your CD-disc bootable in the first place? U can check that using magicISO. If magiciso does not detect this disc as bootable, it will not be bootable.

http://www.magiciso.com/MagicISO_Full.jpg (see status at top-left side, "Bootable / Non-bootable") when u insert your disc after launching MagicISO

Alternatively, place other bootable CD that u know of and try to boot from your CD drive. If it works, that means your XP installer is not bootable (corrupted)

Good luck

Edited January 12, 200917 yr by Geej