[Life's_a_b3ach]

I want to format my hard drive, since I haven't done that for a while and Windows is starting to move really slow. The problems is when I insert my Win Xp SP2 installation CD, the "press any key to boot from cd" message doesn't appear, and Windows just loads. I tired pressing any key even if the message didn't appear, but it was all in vain. I have set BIOS correctly, I even tried disabling the other drives, with no luck. I never got that problem before, even when I'd load a music/data cd, that message appeared. Hope you can help, I need Windows reinstalled asap. Thank you. Any other information that could be helpful, just ask.

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Welcome to Geeks2Go!

No message to "press any key" means the PC isn't booting from the CD (guess you already figured that one out!).
Are you sure the BIOS is set to 'cd-rom' as the "First Boot Device", and that if there are two CD/DVD drives you have tried them both?

Edited by pip22, 07 March 2008 - 04:12 AM.

[pip22]

Welcome to Geeks2Go!

No message to "press any key" means the PC isn't booting from the CD (guess you already figured that one out!).
Are you sure the BIOS is set to 'cd-rom' as the "First Boot Device", and that if there are two CD/DVD drives you have tried them both?

Edited by pip22, 07 March 2008 - 04:12 AM.

[Life's_a_b3ach]

Welcome to Geeks2Go!

No message to "press any key" means the PC isn't booting from the CD (guess you already figured that one out!).
Are you sure the BIOS is set to 'cd-rom' as the "First Boot Device", and that if there are two CD/DVD drives you have tried them both?

Thank you for your fast reply. Yes, CD-Rom is set as the First Boot Device, and there is only one Cd/DVD drive.I didn't change my BIOS settings ever since I installed Windows the last time, with the same drivers and Windows version.

[happyrock]

got a floppy drive...set it as the first boot device...follow the instructions here to format the drive...

[Ztruker]

Try your XP SP2 CD in another computer, see if it will boot there. Perhaps it's dirty (fingerprints, grease, scratches, etc.).

Can you read it if you put it in the CD drive while XP is booted? Have you tried a CD cleaning kit? It's a CD disc with some tiny rushes on it that wipe the laser lens.

Also, instead of formatting and starting over (unless you really like doing that), why not try to figure out what is making your computer run slow?

[Life's_a_b3ach]

Try your XP SP2 CD in another computer, see if it will boot there. Perhaps it's dirty (fingerprints, grease, scratches, etc.).

Can you read it if you put it in the CD drive while XP is booted? Have you tried a CD cleaning kit? It's a CD disc with some tiny rushes on it that wipe the laser lens.

Also, instead of formatting and starting over (unless you really like doing that), why not try to figure out what is making your computer run slow?

I haven't formatted in over a year, and I kept installing and uninstalling software, so that's probably what caused it. Windows was also faulty, had a lot of issues. I want to thank you for all your advice, but I solved the problem. This time, it worked when I disabled all the other drives (including the hard drive). It just doesn't seem right that I have to disable all the other drives in order for the pc to boot from the CD Drive, even though I have The CD/DVD drive set as "First Boot device".

[Life's_a_b3ach]

Try your XP SP2 CD in another computer, see if it will boot there. Perhaps it's dirty (fingerprints, grease, scratches, etc.).

Can you read it if you put it in the CD drive while XP is booted? Have you tried a CD cleaning kit? It's a CD disc with some tiny rushes on it that wipe the laser lens.

Also, instead of formatting and starting over (unless you really like doing that), why not try to figure out what is making your computer run slow?

And to answer your other question, the cd was faulty, even it was original, but that wasn't the problem, Windows reads is with absolutely no problem, only after it loads. Disabling the other drives seems to have solved the issue, still Thanks again.