[chiefcrunchy]

Hello all - and thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give me. Long story, but I've reached the point where I feel I need to reformat, and I'm having a VERY hard time of it.

QUESTION: How can I boot to DOS, and therefore reformat, if machine won't boot from CD or floppy?
..............................
OS = WinXP Pro
Floppy drive, CD-RW drive, and DVD-RW drive.
One harddrive, one partition.

I have my XP CD.
I also have a Win98 boot floppy that was lent to me.
..............................
I have both of these disks, but can't seem to get the machine to boot from either one.
Boot order is set to Floppy, CD-ROM, HDD0, but even with either and/or both disks inserted in their respective drives, I still end up booting straight into XP.

If I try to view these drives in WinExplorer, the CD drive says "please insert a CD" and the floppy says "the disk in drive A: is not formatted."

NOTE: I WAS able to boot from each of these drives about a week ago, when I first started having trouble. However, at that time I wasn't ready yet to throw in the towel and go for a reformat... ain't hindsight a wonderful thing?

At this point I've given up, and just want to start over clean. Can anyone help me figure out how to pull off a reformat under these circumstances?

Thanks!
C.C.

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Howdy:

Oh boy.. first, is the XP cd an original or a copy (burnt) ??

Murray

Edited by Murray S., 23 May 2005 - 08:07 AM.

[Murray S.]

Howdy:

Oh boy.. first, is the XP cd an original or a copy (burnt) ??

Murray

Edited by Murray S., 23 May 2005 - 08:07 AM.

[chiefcrunchy]

Hey - thanks for the response.
It's a copy.
The system didn't come with an original CD.

[Murray S.]

That's why it won't boot.. You are using a pirated version and, thus, there is no help here for you because of that.

The site does NOT support pirated software!!

Murray

[chiefcrunchy]

You know Murray, I fully appreciate that. And, I wouldn't expect you to support illegal activity. But, I'm not trying to do anything illegal here. This machine was built for me by a local computer tech. I paid for and have every reason to believe I rec'd a fully-licensed copy of the OS. I never rec'd a factory hard-copy of the installation CD, since all necessary files were on the harddrive (that's what I was told) and I could create a CD if I wished. That's what I have here.

If there is nothing for me to do in terms of recovering this version of the OS, which I paid for, then I'll buy a new copy... that's still cheaper than replacing the whole machine.

BUT... I'm still left with the problem of how do I get the machine to accept a new, clean installation if it won't see the contents of the floppy or CD drives?

If you still choose not to offer me any help, I guess I can understand. But I promise you I'm not trying to cheat anyone, or get anyone in trouble. I just want to get my machine back up and running... LEGALLY, rather than simply tossing it away.

Thanks
C.C.

[Murray S.]

Okay.. if you go to www.bootdisk.com you will be able to download the files needed for an XP boot floppy set.. Make sure you get the exact files for your version of XP..

You will need 6 clean formatted floppiues.. The download will be in a self-extracting file.. Once it is downloaded and you have the floppies ready, run the download..

Now, try using those to boot your system and install XP..

Murray

[chiefcrunchy]

Thanks, Murray - I can give that a try. However, I am under the impression that my floppy drive won't allow me to boot. The boot floppy that worked for me last week is not working now.

I'm not sure if a new set of floppies will help. Though I must admit, since I haven't been exactly scientific about things so far, I can't swear the floppy drive itself is to blame. But I'm not terribly optimistic that I'll be able to get the computer to see the new boot floppies once I have them.

I heard it might be possible to create a boot disk from a USB Flash Drive...? That is the one device my machine still seems to be able to read from. Any thoughts or feelings on that?

C.C.

[chiefcrunchy]

Sorry... I should have mentioned... I'm not at the troubled computer right now... won't be until later tonight... so I can't really try anything until later, otherwise I wouldn't be guessing (or second-guessing) at what might happen if this or that...
Thanks for bearing with me.
C.C.

[Murray S.]

Give them a try..

Murray

[chiefcrunchy]

Will do...
Thanks

[Murray S.]

No problem.. let me know how it goes..

Murray