If the hard drive or partition on which XP is installed is formatted NTFS, a
boot floppy is useless because it cannot see an NTFS drive. However, the XP
CD, assuming you have a retail version is bootable, though if you have not
already done so you need to set the system to boot from the CD-ROM drive in
the BIOS. When the system boots, the first screen usually contains some
information about entering setup and a key to depress. Once inside,
navigate until you find the boot sequence and place the CD-ROM first in
line, then save and exit.
If you wish to boot from the XP CD while an OS is currently installed on the
drive, a few screens into the boot you will see a message that if you wish
to boot from the CD hit any key. If the hard drive is blank, the system
should automatically boot from the CD.
Note, DOS commands will be useless. You need to familiarize yourself with
the XP tools. Open Help and Support on the Start Menu, type Recovery
Console in the search box. This will bring up a number of things that can
be done in the Recovery Console. XP also has available a Repair Install
feature that allows you to repair a setup without formatting and starting
over (NOTE: you should be well backed up nonetheless). Also, if you boot
the system and start tapping F8, you will be brought to a menu that gives
you the following, Safe Mode and Last Known Good Configuration among others
that can assist you with XP problems. Be sure to use the "Last Known Good
Configuration" option before going into Safe Mode. Once you enter Safe
Mode, that becomes the "Last Known Good Configuration" so it's an option
that should be used first.
