Can't boot!

if you've followed instructions exactly and the problem is still there, then i imagine the problem is not with the drive but somewhere in the barebones system.

first thing to do, if the drives work on another pc, is to start stripping the barebones system and make sure all hardware configurations are correct.

 

Well that sounds simple enough. What hardware configurations though.

 

Why not do what janrocks said and test it with Mandrivia? It's free and will tell you all you need about your hardware plus you just might enjoy using an alternate operating system. A simple download from a friend will do it if you can't get on the internet yourself.

 

Ok I've finally got it booting, started installing with my dodgy Windows disc, was at 99% and it said it couldn't find some DLL. I figured ONE DLL isn't gonna matter that much and told it to ignore. Continued the usual process, said it was gonna restart, done that.

Then it came up saying Setup needs to restart and shortly after that, a blue screen of death:

STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The session manager initialization process terminated unexp with a status of 0xc00026c (0x00000000, 0x00000000)


Fine I thought, disc must be buggered. NP, I have another version burned for just such an emergency.

However, I now can't boot from CD as it just goes straight back into the corrupted setup and then gives me the blue screen once again.

PLEASE tell me there's some easy way to reformat my HDD so I can start installing again WITHOUT the aid of a friend's PC.

NOTE: Gonna post this in a new thread to maximize responses. Please lock this thread as the original problem is fixed.

Thanks all for the replies!