BIOS Boot Options

[dmkirt]

OK, I have gone into the BIOS options and selected Boot from CD. However, the computer still boots from the floppy drive first then the HD and finally the CD is accessed. How do I get the BIOS to boot from the CD first? (Yep, I pressed F10 before restart.)

FYI: I'm attempting to reinstall Windows XP from CD ROMs that we had to wresstle from HP! I have tried nearly everything in this forum to get the computer running correctly (not so slow) and all attempts have failed. This has happened before and I successfully reloaded with the Windows Boot Floppies from the MS site. I was just trying to figure out how I could reinstall from the CDs instead of having to go out and buy new floppies.

I'm a bit frustrated, yet not willing to give up at all!

[TwoRails]

Hi dmkirt,

Welcome to PC Mechanic !!

Most BIOSs will let you boot from Floppy, HD, CD and sometimes more. Setting the BIOS to boot from CD usually sets it as the 3rd boot device. Try going in and setting your First boot device as the CD. Also, make sure any floppy is removed before booting.

HTH

TwoRails

[dmkirt]

Hey! Thanks for the Welcome!

Oh, I see that I did not post that I already tried that. In fact, that's the first thing I did remember from the last time I installed Windows OS and, of course for me, it did not work! LOL

Looks like I will have to scrape up $10 (US) for a set of floppies and make a Windows XP install set.

Thanks for your quick reply and help!

~Kirt

[blue60007]

Whoa, do you know how many floppies that is? And I don't think you can even do that. Do you have another optical drive?

With my XP CD you'll need at least 365 floppies to fit the whole disc on.

[dmkirt]

Originally Posted by blue60007 Whoa, do you know how many floppies that is? And I don't think you can even do that. Do you have another optical drive? With my XP CD you'll need at least 365 floppies to fit the whole disc on.

Now wouldn't that stack of floppies make a great conversation-piece?

What I meant was the Windows XP Home Edition Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

It will only take 6 disks

[Panama Red]

It's possible the disks you have may not be bootable. Do you have any other bootable disk to confirm that the problem is the bios order, the disk or a faulty CD drive?

[dmkirt]

Originally Posted by Panama Red It's possible the disks you have may not be bootable. Do you have any other bootable disk to confirm that the problem is the bios order, the disk or a faulty CD drive?

Yes, I have tried other bootable CDs, to no avail. I do not think it is the CD drive as it seems to work well with other Cds.

Thanks for the suggestions, though

[jeeter2]

If your HP computer is like mine then you can hit escape at the bootscreen and select the boot device you want or hit F1 for BIOS settings.

[dmkirt]

Originally Posted by jeeter2 If your HP computer is like mine then you can hit escape at the bootscreen and select the boot device you want or hit F1 for BIOS settings.

Just tried hitting the escape key while booting. The menu came up and I selected CD ROM, yet it still loaded from the HDD.

Thanks for trying