xp install/boot problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter mxs
  • Start date Start date
M

mxs

after i reformatted my HD to ntfs, i went to install xp and got stuck.
i get to a black screen that says press any key to boot from cd.
that where i'm stuck. nothing happens. i know that the keyboard is
plugged in and works. i also know that the cd drive is also plugged
in proper. i can boot up with a '98 floppy, but don't know what to do
from there. i was trying to run winnt32.exe but to no avail. am i
supposed to do this from the prompt for the cd drive? i cannot get to
a dos prompt for the cd drive. do i just have the wrong syntax here?
 
Hi, mxs.

HOW did you reformat your HD? The WinXP CD-ROM is perfectly capable of
partitioning and formatting the HD for you, so you need not format it in
advance.

What make and model is your computer? They use different methods to boot
from CD. Sounds like you've got close enough, though, so let's start from
scratch.

Put the WinXP CD-ROM into your drive and reboot. When you get that black
screen, press a key so that the computer will start to boot from the CD.
From there on, just follow the prompts. Pay close attention to the first
few screens, where it offers to partition your HD and then to format it.
Unless you plan to install Win9x/ME on this computer, format it NTFS. (If
you plan to use multiple partitions, be sure that Setup doesn't include the
whole HD in Drive C:. After WinXP is installed and running, you can use the
built-in utility Disk Management to create and format the other partitions.)

The process should be automatic, and should take up to an hour or so to
fully install WinXP.

Then, as soon as you can, get your firewall in place and install a good
antivirus. Then go online and visit Windows Update to get SP1 (if it is not
already included on your CD) and all the later fixes. This will take
another hour or two. All in all, plan on half a day to get WinXP installed
and updated.

Yes, you can boot into Win98 and run winnt32.exe, but that's the hard way to
do it. The best way is to boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and let it do most of
the work. ;<)

RC
 
I had a similiar experience after a reformat and initial install of XP.
In my case I had to tell my computer to boot up from CD NOT the floppy
drive. You can try it by accessing your BIOS. Once you turn on
your computer, as its powering up press and hold the delete key, this
should give you access to your BIOS. Once there you'll have to sort
thru the various settings until you find one for "boot drive".
Select boot from CD and then "save settings and restart". Be careful
whenever your editing your BIOS, don't change a setting unless
you know what it will do.

Hope this helps,
Mark
 
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