[Retired Tech]

Try tapping F5 as it boots

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should i boot from the cd or from the hard drive?

[naeby]

should i boot from the cd or from the hard drive?

[naeby]

it will not respond when tapping F5...i Just get a cursor. We can F12 and get a response as to which drive to boot from.

[Retired Tech]

Boot it from the hard drive, or you can just take the XP CD out

Just wondering if it is reacting slowly, have you let the cursor flash away for a few minutes

[naeby]

will let it flash a bit but the first time I had waiting a minute or so. eventually when tapping a button, the laptop just beeps at us.

[naeby]

it hasnt moved

[Retired Tech]

So it won't even boot from the hard drive, does booting with the XP CD in make a difference?

No need to tap any keys

[naeby]

it goes into windows setup with the XP cd in...shall I do that?

[Retired Tech]

It's looking that way, run through this, then get memtest and run that before doing any updates

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the power button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need your XP product key to complete this

The XP Product Key is a 25 character alpha numerical code, which does not include the sequence OEM

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

Click this to view the XP Repair Install Guide

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

The XP repair install will look and run as a normal install, however, you must not see a request to format the drive

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[naeby]

After this boots up will I be able to go back to the system checkpoint I made?

[Retired Tech]

Try pressing esc and see if it loads

[naeby]

its in the middle of the setup already...can I do that without causing more problems?

[Retired Tech]

If you can run the repair in post 54 then it would give you XP without the updates which is sort of where you were

That's when I would run memtest

[naeby]

alright, thank you!

[naeby]

Ugh! I do not understand why computers have to be so difficult. The re-installation completed, finally. Then when it rebooted, it stalled with a black screen and an hourglass. It has been sitting here for about 2 minutes...not moving.