[Susan9700]

ok, i tried that while i was waiting...figured, couldn't hurt, after everything else we tried.

first try, some technical info came up, like computer name, etc, then it said "failure"

second try, it said 'press any key to boot from CD, did so and got this: CDBOOT: Memory overflow error

i'm still there......

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Good one!

What happens when you press "Enter"?

[wannabe1]

Good one!

What happens when you press "Enter"?

[Susan9700]

oh i don't think it's a good one...

when i pressed enter, i got that message

CDBOOT: memory overflow error

and a blinking cursor...

that's it...what now...help!!!

[wannabe1]

What version of XP is on the disk you are installing from? Is it a retail version cd, an OEM (branded) cd, or a copy someone made? Is the disk dirty or scratched?

Ram can also cause this error, does the machine beep just once when it starts, or is the a series of beeps?

[Susan9700]

i wouldn't hear any beeps, as the speakers are blown, so my daughter tells me, who knows!

now it comes back to the original error message again.

[wannabe1]

This is kinda sounding like the machine can't find the HDD at all. When you boot into BIOS Setup, on the first screen, does it list your HDD?

[Susan9700]

hooray....my fault, when you mentioned that it might be hard drive issue and check the bios again, i realized, i forgot to plug in the pci card...once i check the battery options...now i'm at the Windows XP Setup,
Welcome to Setup with 2 choices, setup (enter), repair using Recovery Console ®, quite setup without installing windwos XP(F3)

what now...i'm an so sorry, my guess would be that we could have fixed this last night had i put that [bleep] card in...it's just that i'm not use to laptops...sorry

susan

[wannabe1]

Press "Enter" to set up windows.

Accept the license agreement (F8).

Select your operating system and press R.

Edited by wannabe1, 05 December 2006 - 04:46 PM.

[Susan9700]

are you sure?

i've done that with my own computer and it just writes over the hard drive, and i lost everything on my puter????

i need to save her files, not lose them

shouldn't i be "recovering"?

[wannabe1]

No...we'll do an inplace upgrade instead. It will reinstall the system files and the registry hives. Follow This Guide while you do it. Your important files will be fine.

Use the product key for your machine...not the one for the cd.

Edited by wannabe1, 05 December 2006 - 04:52 PM.

[Susan9700]

are you sure?

i've done that with my own computer and it just writes over the hard drive, and i lost everything on my puter????

i need to save her files, not lose them

shouldn't i be "recovering"?

sorry my son read your response to me and i didn't realize there was more to it...however, i did what you said, accepted agreement, but there is no R to press.

the following list show the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on this computer.

Use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to select an item in the list.
*To set up Windows XP on the selected item, press ENTER
*To create a partition in the unpartitioined space, press C.
* to delet the selected partition, press D

then it shows C: Partition1 (NTFS) and the MB used and free

did i do something wrong?

[Susan9700]

are you sure?

i've done that with my own computer and it just writes over the hard drive, and i lost everything on my puter????

i need to save her files, not lose them

shouldn't i be "recovering"?

sorry my son read your response to me and i didn't realize there was more to it...however, i did what you said, accepted agreement, but there is no R to press.

the following list show the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on this computer.

Use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to select an item in the list.
*To set up Windows XP on the selected item, press ENTER
*To create a partition in the unpartitioined space, press C.
* to delet the selected partition, press D

then it shows C: Partition1 (NTFS) and the MB used and free

did i do something wrong?

ok, too late, i did what you told me, can i just press F3? and start over again?

[wannabe1]

You did nothing wrong...this is the first real look we've had at the HDD.

It's not showing an operating system...just a raw partition. This is not good.

Had you tried other methods to start the machine before posting here?

Back out of the installation (F3 I think) and restart the machine, booting to the cd again. This time, on the Welcome to Setup screen, press "R" for Recovery Console. Let's see if the operating system is detected there. You should be offered the choice to select your operating system again. Is it listed?

[Susan9700]

yes recovery is an option, shall i choose it?

[wannabe1]

Yes...select your operating system and continue.