[rolling]

I have been struggle with maybe possible simple trouble shooting.

Let me explain..

I have IBM Think Centre Windows XP home edition since couple of years ago but I bought XP professional last year and used that since then.

But I had problem with my PC so I remove the XP professional, and started the format the original windows XP home edition disk. Unfortunately, I accidentally turn the power off while I format the disk! I forgot the fact that power strip connected to outlet switched by wall switch by the door! It was too late that I ran back up to my room turned the switch on. All I have the message it said “remove disks or other media. Press any key to restart”. I made a call to IBM, they said “unplug the power cord and push and hold reset button for 20-30 seconds then power back on.” which I followed.

But it still said,

"System is starting…..
(To interrupt normal start up, press Enter)

Initialized Intel® Boot Agent Version 4.1.86
PXE 2.1 Build 883 (WIN 2.0). RPL V2.74
Press Ctrl+S to enter the Setup Menu…_

Intel® Boot Agent Version 4.1.86
Copyright © 1997-2002, Intel Corporation

Intel Base-Code, PXE-2.1 (build 883)
Copyright © 1997-2002, Intel Corporation
PXE-E61:Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Existing Intel Boot Agent,
1962: No operating system found. Press F1 to repeat boot sequence.

Remove disks or other media.
Press any key to restart."


Even there were not any disks or anything.
In addition, when I hit my keyboard, nothing happened.
Therefore, I tried booting up without my keyboard then it happened like this ->

"System is starting…..
(To interrupt normal start up, press Enter)

Phoenix BIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 for IBM NetVistar,
Copyright 1995-2002, Phoenix Technologies Ltd,
All Rights Reserved

© COPYRIGHT IBM CORPORATION 1991-2002 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

CPU = Intel ® Pentium ® 4 CPU 2.40GHz
639K System RAM Passed
125M Extended RAM Passed
512K Cache SRAM Passed
System BIOS shadowed
Video BIOS shadowed
Fixed Disk 0: WDC WD 400BB-23DEA0
ATAPI CD-ROM: HL-DT-ST CD-ROM GCR-8482B
ERROR
0211: Keyboard error

Press <F1> to setup, <F2> to Resume
*Error Boot Sequence will be taken if no selection is made

Please help me....... please.....

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so just to make sure xp didnt get installd rit

[Jolen98]

so just to make sure xp didnt get installd rit

[nestorey]

Okay, what happened is that the boot sector on your HD was formatted before you lost power.
no big deal since you are planning a clean install anyway.
what you need to do now is access your BIOS and make your !st boot device be the CD ROM. thatway the first thing your comp will look at on startup is your Windows Install disk.
once the CD is the first boot device you'll get a message on start up:

HIT ANY KEY TO BOOT FROM CD

hit any key and the install will begin.

from the looks of the info above the way to access your BIOS is CTRL+S on startup. if that doesn't work then restart and try the DELETE. if it's no dice again then try F1 on the next statup.

let me know how it goes

[rolling]

Okay, what happened is that the boot sector on your HD was formatted before you lost power.
no big deal since you are planning a clean install anyway.
what you need to do now is access your BIOS and make your !st boot device be the CD ROM.  thatway the first thing your comp will look at on startup is your Windows Install disk. 
once the CD is the first boot device you'll get a message on start up:

HIT ANY KEY TO BOOT FROM CD

hit any key and the install will begin.

from the looks of the info above the way to access your BIOS is CTRL+S on startup.  if that doesn't work then restart and try the DELETE.  if it's no dice again then try F1 on the next statup.

let me know how it goes

Yes, I tried with XP Professional CD that I had and it displayed as below:



Setup is inspecting your computer’s hardware configuration…



Windows Setup

Press F6 if you need to install a third a party SCSI or RAID driver…

Press F2 to run Automated System Recovery (ASR)…

Setup is loading files (Kernel Debugger DLL)…

Setup is loading files (IEEE 1394 SBP2 Storage Port Driver)…

Setup is loading files (PCI IDE Bus Driver)…

Setup is loading files (VIA IDE Bus Driver)…

Setup is loading files (Generic USB Hub Driver)…

Setup is loading files (LSI Logic C8100 PCI SCSI Host Adapter)…

Setup is loading files (TOSHIBA Floppy Driver (Libretto Type A))…

Setup is loading files (Open Host Controller)…

Setup is loading files (Dell PERC 2/3 RAID Controller)…

Setup is loading files (Human Interface Parser)…

Setup is loading files (Keyboard Driver)…

Setup is loading files (IBM Portable PCMCIA CD-ROM Drive)…

Setup is loading files (Compaq Drive Array)…

Setup is loading files (Kernel Security Provider)…

Setup is loading files (Initiate Ultra SCSI Host Adapter)…

Then…….

Windows XP Professional Setup

Welcome to Setup.

This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft<R>
Windows<R> XP to run your computer.

• To set up Windows XP now, Press ENTER.
• To repair a Windows XP installation using
Recovery Console, Press R.
• To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Then any of those that I pressed it, comes to:

Windows XP Professional Setup

Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer.

Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program.

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3.

Then…

Windows XP Professional Setup

Windows XP has not been installed on this computer.
If there is a floppy disk in drive A:, remove it.

To restart your computer, press ENTER.

Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds…..

What should I do now??

[wannabe1]

Hi rolling...Welcome to G2G!

First, check all of your cables ie: hard drive and cd rom to make sure they are firmly seated.

Try running the "boot from cd" option again...if you get the same errors then chances are good that your interupted format attempt left your drive without a valid partition.

Do you still have the XP Home Edition cd or was it preinstalled on the machine?

wannabe1

[rolling]

Hi rolling...Welcome to G2G!

First, check all of your cables ie: hard drive and cd rom to make sure they are firmly seated.

Try running the "boot from cd" option again...if you get the same errors then chances are good that your interupted format attempt left your drive without a valid partition. 

Do you still have the XP Home Edition cd or was it preinstalled on the machine?

wannabe1

I do not have XP Home Edition cd, it was preinstalled on the machine

Edited by rolling, 12 June 2005 - 11:29 AM.

[wannabe1]

Hey rolling....

When you boot from the XP Pro cd, do you see a prompt for letting XP format the drive. It would be a prompt asking if you wanted to install windows on the selected partition press enter...or...to delete selected partition press D.......??

If you see such a prompt (I'm not real familiar with XP Pro) choose to delete any partitions found and then try rebooting to the cd again. I know this works with XP Home.

When you get back to this prompt again, choose to create a new partition and format it...then install windows on that partition.

Fingers crossed for success!

wannabe1