[Enthalpy]

Hi,
I have an Xp, that won't boot. I have tried restarting a few times and still nothing but blackness and the blinking cursor. I have checked the Bios? (i believe that's what it is, by bashing 'del' at the start of boot) and found that all HDD's and DVD drives are detected, but when I tried to boot with the installation disk, nothing happens. I have tried to enter 'Safe Mode' by pressing F8, but that just lets me choose which drive to boot from.. As I am not tech savvy, I have no idea what I can do.
Any help into fixing this problem would be grateful
Thank you

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Hi Enthalpy
You need to provide information about your computer, this includes is it
a laptop or desktop, is it a custom build or brand name such as Dell or HP
and if it is provide the model name or series number, having these details
will help others to help you better.

but when I tried to boot with the installation disk, nothing happens

Have you changed the boot sequence to CD/DVD drive 1st and the HDD 2nd?

I have tried to enter 'Safe Mode' by pressing F8, but that just lets me choose which drive to boot from..

Once you have changed the sequence press F10 to save the changes and then Y to accept the changes, pop the boot disk into your drive and restart your computer, it should now boot from the disk and allow you to do a repair installation of XP not reinstallation of XP, see the attached link for full details;
http://www.windowsxp...dexfullpage.htm

[phillpower2]

Hi Enthalpy
You need to provide information about your computer, this includes is it
a laptop or desktop, is it a custom build or brand name such as Dell or HP
and if it is provide the model name or series number, having these details
will help others to help you better.

but when I tried to boot with the installation disk, nothing happens

Have you changed the boot sequence to CD/DVD drive 1st and the HDD 2nd?

I have tried to enter 'Safe Mode' by pressing F8, but that just lets me choose which drive to boot from..

Once you have changed the sequence press F10 to save the changes and then Y to accept the changes, pop the boot disk into your drive and restart your computer, it should now boot from the disk and allow you to do a repair installation of XP not reinstallation of XP, see the attached link for full details;
http://www.windowsxp...dexfullpage.htm

[Enthalpy]

Opps.
Well it's a desktop, custom build i think since it's died a few times on me from various things..
cpu: P4
mb: Asus P5Q
HDD: WD and Seagate both IDE
not sure what else you might need..

And yes, I did make the DVD drive 1st in boot priority. But as soon as I exit the bios, it's right back to the black screen without 'Press any key to boot from CD'.

[phillpower2]

not sure what else you might need..

Onboard video or add on video card, if add on video card does your MB have an onboard video port (there are different models of your MB), if yes can you or have you tried connecting your monitor to it.

And yes, I did make the DVD drive 1st in boot priority. But as soon as I exit the bios, it's right back to the black screen without 'Press any key to boot from CD'.

Once you have changed the sequence press F10 to save the changes and then Y to accept the changes, pop the boot disk into your drive and restart your computer

Did you do this?
If you are it is possible the MBs CR2032 battery has died and will need to be replaced as this is what powers the BIOS chip which stores the boot up sequence and the system time and date.

CMOS battery .jpeg courtesy of rshaffer61

[Enthalpy]

Sorry for the late reply, been hard to get onto a comp. But with the battery suggestion, the mb was bought not ~6 months ago, so I doubt it would be the problem. But to be on the safe side, I'll still see if I can replace it. If this does not solve it, is there any other options I could pursue?
Cheers

[phillpower2]

In post #3 you said;

And yes, I did make the DVD drive 1st in boot priority. But as soon as I exit the bios, it's right back to the black screen without 'Press any key to boot from CD'.

This suggests that the boot sequence is not set to 1st CD drive and 2nd HDD, this may be because the settings were not saved or the BIOS chip is bad, solution 1 is ensure the boot sequence has saved before exiting the BIOS and solution 2 is return the MB under warranty as it is only 6 months old, the CMOS battery may be a lot older or simply faulty.
To get into safe mode try tapping the Delete key on boot up, also when you go into the BIOS are both the CD drive and HDD detected (the one with XP on it) how many sticks of Ram have you got? If you have more than one stick try removing one stick at a time, try them in each slot and see if that produces any change, make sure the power cord is removed from the wall when you do this and ground yourself before touching the Ram, you can do this by touching a bare metal part of the case, if you have an add on video card try removing it, blow out the slot and then reseat the card securely, check that all connections inside the case are secure before reassembly and boot up.

[Enthalpy]

The boot sequence was saved as CD drive to have priority over the HDD which has Xp installed. Also, when you stated the BIOS chip, I have no idea what that is/ looks like.
In addition, I have a single 2gb stick of ram. I've already tried placing into another slot to no avail..
I have pulled out all the non essentials, and have left only monitor and keyboard connected.
I'll try reseating everything.
I thought 'del' was to get into BIOS, I've tried F8 (adv. boot options).

[phillpower2]

The boot sequence was saved as CD drive to have priority over the HDD which has Xp installed.

When you reboot the computer with the XP boot disk in the CD drive is there any activity from the actual CD drive as in attempting to read the disk.

Also, when you stated the BIOS chip, I have no idea what that is/ looks like.

Thats ok because repairing or replacing a BIOS chip is a task best left to a Tech and as the MB is less than 6 months old it should be done under warranty.

I have pulled out all the non essentials, and have left only monitor and keyboard connected.

You will also need the HDD with the OS (XP) on it connected to enable access to the system drivers.

I thought 'del' was to get into BIOS, I've tried F8 (adv. boot options).

Not all computers are the same, some are F2 some are F8 but I believe most are the Del key, dependent on the BIOS manufacturer.

[Enthalpy]

When I reboot, the light in front of the dvd drive lights up, so I assume there is some activity. I do have the IDE cable connected from the dvd drive to a PCI card, I'll use the same IDE cable for the HDD with the OS with the dvd drive, and rip out the additional HDD, to see if that will make a difference.
And when I meant all non essential's were unplugged, I meant things like printers, sound, net, etc. The 'del' key takes me to the BIOS, where I can change the boot priorities. I'll try all the 'F' keys.