XP boot cd doesn't boot - can't get to blue installation scree

[dertien]

Hello everybody,

I want to reinstall my windows XP which sits on a partition of a SATA disk together with Fedora Core 5 which is installed on another partition.

So as I usually did before, I just rebooted my pc with the winxp disk in the drive and booted from cd. Now instead of firing up the blue recovery/installation/repair screen, it detects my cd, the first line shows up in the top left corner of the screen "windows is detecting your hardware" or something similar, then the screen turns black, and you can hear the DVD drive ' rpms diminishing. It then just stays that way, and the blue screen doesn't show up like it used to.

GRUB (the boot screen fedora installs) shows all operating choices correctly and is NOT installed on the MBR.

My DVD in the BIOS is set on the first place in boot device order, so that's not a problem either. I can reinstall Fedora Core 5 anytime, which boots fine from CD.

The DVD device in the BIOS is on auto (I' ve tried to set it to LBA, but it doesn't make any difference)

I installed the recovery console on the HDD from the win XP cd in case I would need it.

How should I solve this problem.

Thank you.

Dertien

[LLXX]

Defective CD or drive? Have you tried another drive or CD?

[dancity]

Try another cd...it could be scratched or corrupt.

[rox1co]

i have a similar problem, i used Nero to burn the Image/Iso but it still doesn't boot

i went to Nero Burning ROM > CD-ROM (Iso) > etc etc etc > Found the Iso > Burn

i also went to Ner Burning ROM > CD-ROM (Boot) > etc etc etc > Found the Image > Burn

what did i do wrong?

[marfat71]

I've got the same problem, moreover in a different way:

I often have had problem with registry, so when XP didn't start I have got the installation CD, have gone to rescue section and from here I have used ERUNT for restore the registry. Now i can't reach this point, not with the installation CD and not with the BartPE CD that I build.

The point is the same: the CD starts, the sentence "Analyzing sistem configuration...." or something like this appears, this with both CDs, then the system hangs up leaving the HD light ON forever.

This problem appeared one time before, and after I left all the night turned off the PC BartPE started and I was able to work. But not this time...

I have a MultiBooted system with GRUB on MBR, bur BartPE started many times before with this configuration, so I can't think this is the fault. I can see CD contents from my linux, so the CD should be working. The only thing I changed on my system is blanking the Administrator password from a floppy, because the last time the system ask me it, but I had never set. I don't think it can be also your problem, and however a BartPe cd should start also whitout support from HD, shouldn't it?

So, I can't neither reinstall Windows, as the CD doesn't start...

Sorry to put a new problem instead of solving one, but if it's a common problem perhaps someone will found the answer...

Thanks in advance

[pmshah]

For my taste Grub as boot manager is flaky. I always use lilo on the hosting partition & never in the MBR. I use Terabyteunlimited's BootIt Ng as my boot & partition manager. I have 6 different installations of windows & at least 9 different flavours of Linux on my system, each one in its own independent primary partition. They all work flawlessly. It also supports booting from all bios supported devices including SATA, CD, USB, Firewire or what have you. The curent version with UDMA support works extremely well.

XP images/iso won't create properly with Nero if you have hotfixes on it. (Very long filenames & path) You will need M$ cdimage to do it. You will also need bbie (from Bart) to extract boot file from the CD or use Bart's boot image. Bart also has a utility to create these CD images.

What I suggest in your case is to use some kind of partiton manager (partition magic is my choice) & hide all partitions - including the extended one. Leave only the windows partition that you want to repair as visible when booting from CD. You should be able to get to the blue installation screen or be able to boot BartPE booting from from CD.

Hope this helps.