I'm obviously missing something very simple, here, but . . .

  • Thread starter Z
  • 11 comments
  • 771 views
Z

Z

828
United States
Midwest, USA
Turismo-Z
Ok, so the machine I'm currently using is in dire need of a format. However, I'm having some issues with that and I'm not sure why. Right, so I pop in the WindowsXP ServicePack 2 CD, reboot the machine and hit F8 to get my boot menu. I select the CD-ROM drive and away we go: "Press any key to boot from CD.." it says. Now, I should get a nice blue Windows Setup screen with some options to format, but instead it takes me back into my current installation. What gives?

Thanks in advance.
 
Boot in. Hit Enter. Hit F8. Hit Esc. Hit D. Hit enter, Hit L. Hit C. Hit Enter. Hit Enter.


Let it do its thing. I have it memorized, sadly enough.
 
Z
Ok, so the machine I'm currently using is in dire need of a format. However, I'm having some issues with that and I'm not sure why. Right, so I pop in the WindowsXP ServicePack 2 CD, reboot the machine and hit F8 to get my boot menu. I select the CD-ROM drive and away we go: "Press any key to boot from CD.." it says. Now, I should get a nice blue Windows Setup screen with some options to format, but instead it takes me back into my current installation. What gives?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Dumb question, but are you actually pressing a key when it says "Press any key to boot from CD" or are you just watching it go by? Also, if you have 2 CDs, only one of them is the bootable drive.
 
Z
Now, I should get a nice blue Windows Setup screen with some options to format, but instead it takes me back into my current installation. What gives?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I think what he is saying that instead of going into Windows Setup, the computer boots into Windows as normal.

Correct?
 
Is the CD-ROM drive in the wrong place in your BIOS boot order? If it comes after the hard disk, I wouldn't think you'd see the "Press any key" message, but maybe so. Anyway, if the CD is after the hard drive, it'll NEVER boot from the CD as long as there's a bootable HD partition.
 
wfooshee
Is the CD-ROM drive in the wrong place in your BIOS boot order? If it comes after the hard disk, I wouldn't think you'd see the "Press any key" message, but maybe so. Anyway, if the CD is after the hard drive, it's NEVER boot from the CD as long as there's a bottable HD partition.
Click to expand...

I haven't switched the boot order in the BIOS; I was under the assumption that hitting F8 to access the boot menu for the machine, then selecting the CD-ROM drive gave the same results.
 
Not having switched it does not mean it's correct. It's quite common for the default to be CD last, which means it boots for the original install, but never after that. Check the BIOS.

The sequence should be floppy (if available), CD, hard disc. Some BIOS's have USB in there, if yours does, put it LAST, or it'll try to boot from a thumb drive if you have one, whcih won't work.
 
wfooshee
Not having switched it does not mean it's correct. It's quite common for the default to be CD last, which means it boots for the original install, but never after that. Check the BIOS.

The sequence should be floppy (if available), CD, hard disc. Some BIOS's have USB in there, if yours does, put it LAST, or it'll try to boot from a thumb drive if you have one, whcih won't work.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Apparently the BIOS settings were more critical than I had thought -- using the boot menu was pointless. Once I switched the settings in the BIOS, everything was fine and I'm back on a fresh install.
 

Latest Posts

Back