im running a compaq 5000 presario and have a problem with a boot loop ive tried to setup a windows xp cd to recover but it wont read the cd i also lined up the boot order cd floppy hd in the bios still wont read just loops is there any way to read the xp cd? or erase windows to install new one thanks in advance
Steps to Clean Install XP If the above instructions for configuring your system to boot from CD or you have acquired the necessary boot floppy/floppies; you can now boot the computer and follow the on screen prompts. Have your Product Key available, typical install is around 30 minutes. If setup seems to hang, wait at least 10 minutes + before restarting system. You should experience momentary screen blackouts. 1. Power on the computer. Press the Pause/Break key as soon as you see text on the screen. [If you currently are running in an OS of any flavor, insert XP CD and restart computer. Skip to #3 if system is configured to boot from CD.] 2. Insert XP CD into CD drive. Press ENTER to resume booting from the XP CD. (BIOS must support booting from CD and boot order must be set so CD boots before hard drive. If computer does not support booting from CD go to 2a for floppy install). 2a. Floppy install: Boot from Win98/Me/Special XP install floppy disk with smartdrv.exe added to the boot disk or the Win XP set of 6 floppy disks. 3. Look for message "booting from CD" usually located at the bottom of the screen. If you have a factory splash screen, press ESC to unload it. 3a. Floppy install: From the A Prompt; A:\type: smartdrv.exe. then press ENTER. If you are using the XP boot floppy setup disks skip to step #5. 4. Press any Key when you see the prompt to "Press Any Key" 4a. Floppy install: CD to the location of the CD-ROM drive with the XP setup files; CD to the i386 folder where you will type: winnt.exe to start setup. 5. Setup will start copying files, if you need to install any third - party or RAID drivers press F6 at this time. the copying of files can take awhile. 6. Next you will get the option to repair or enter setup, choose to enter setup. Press ENTER. To see images full size, place mouse cursor over image and click/double click or press the left button and open. 7. Press F8 if you agree to the license. 8. Setup will scan for previous Windows installations 9. If you are using the upgrade version of XP on a computer without any version of Windows currently installed, this is where you will replace the XP CD with your qualifying CD, XP setup will scan the qualifying CD and instruct you to replace it with the XP CD to continue XP setup; otherwise, you will not see this screen. Clean install qualifying media can be any of the following Win NT3.51, 4.0, 2000, Win 95, 98, Me. 10. Choose the location to install. 10a If this is a clean hard drive, you can choose to create a partition in the un-partitioned space. At this point, you can allow Setup to use all the space or set a size for the partition. 10b If the hard drive or partition has a previous installation of XP you want to remove, choose to delete the partition by pressing "D". You will then be prompted to create a new partition in the empty space. This will remove all data from the delete space. 10c If you intend to use multiple partitions or dual boot, this is where you specify the size of the boot partition and or setup location for XP. If you are planning to dual boot XP, I would create a small 100 meg DOS partition for the first primary partition, then an 8 to 10 gig partition for XP. You can partition and format the remaining space after XP is setup from Disk Manager. If you do not intend to dual boot, you can either use all the un-partitioned space or create an 8 to 10 gig partition for XP and leave the rest free to partition later. Note: If a fat32 partition larger than 32 gigabyte is desired, the hard drive or partition will need to be created before running XP setup. XP will not create a fat 32 partition larger than 32 gig, but will support one previously created. 11. Choose the file system from this screen. If dual booting and you created the small 100 meg partition, make it a fat partition. NTFS is configured at the optimal file size during the initial setup. See this link for more on NTFS 12. If you have more that one partition or hard drive on your system, make sure you are formatting the correct partition/drive. 13. This is where you reinsert the XP Pro Upgrade CD. 14. Press ENTER to continue. 14. Setup will show a progress box and reboot when copying files is complete. 15. When you see the "Press any Key to Reboot" do not Press any Key. If CD boots anyway, remove CD and reboot. 16. From this point, you will follow the on screen prompts.
It should work, it was just a cut and paste from a guide I found, so hopefully it will sort it out, let us know the results! Cheers
