PC Won't Boot

[mike_d]

This is a PC home built within last year that I acquired....

Motherboard: PC Chips P25G
Intel Celeron 2.13GHz/256/533
PC3200 256 MB DDR400 RAM by Super Talent
Unknown Make of HDD: Label Just says ATA 133 30 GB 5400 RPM (Made in Singapore)
Unknown Make CDRW Drive Model 5224P
No Floppy Drive
ATX 430W Power Supply
Unknown Windows XP OS.

Inside case looks fine. Checked connections, new battery. All looks good.
When I turn unit on, goes through memory check.
WIN XP Screen comes up, looks like typical loading screen.
Goes to Safe Mode window with the different safe mode options.
Select any of them and seems like reboot, XP Screen only comes up if select Windows Normal option, otherwise it all choices bring me back to same screen (safe mode options).

Checked BIOS settings, seem okay...nothing unusual. It's recognizing HDD and CD Drive. After reading through posts on here and elsewhere I figure I could boot from boot disk. No floppy and don't know how to make a CD Boot Disk.

I beleive it is XP Pro on here but not sure. I've tried using XP Home and Pro CD but each just say improper system disk. Reinsert boot disk and press enter.

I know a little about computers but not an expert. Pretty sure this will be an easy fix for you guys. Help is appreciated. Thanks in advance for all help.

[rjfvillarosa]

Hi Mike and welcome to PCMech, am I reading this right and you have only just aquired this machine?, if so is a format and reinstall out of the question?
Does the BIOS list what make of harddrive it is?
If you are confident you can boot from a CD why not give the "Ultimate Boot CD" a try it has quite a few diagnostic tools on it for most of your hardware.
You can download the ISO for the UBCD here: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

[glc]

Hate to say it, but that computer was built with all low end components - and it also sounds like the install of XP may not be legitimate. I wish you luck. I'd wipe it and try reinstalling XP from a legitimate CD that you have the key for and is not activated on any other machines.

[mike_d]

Thanks for the reply. In BIOS it just says GENERIC for the HDD. In the POST screen it says GENERIC VAM51JJ0.

I saw the ulimte cd you are referring to, but I really don't understand it or how to use it. Also don't understand the ISO stuff. Do you have to download each tool individually or is there a link for the entire CD? Please expand on this alittle.

I don't really care about the info so a format and reinstall would be fine. On a different PC I fixed I went into BIOS and found an option to format HDD. On this one I can't find any formatting options so again, I don't know how to do this.

ISO...is this used with making Bootable CD? I have Nero 6 if you can help with making the Boot CD. Thanks again.

[mike_d]

GLC,

Knowing the source of who built this machine, it is very possible. How can I format the drive?

[glc]

Boot with the XP CD and go into Setup. Tell it to install a new copy of Windows. I'd then delete all partitions and let Windows set up a new partition and format it. If you get any errors, you have hardware issues that need to be solved.

To use the Ultimate Boot CD, all you have to do is download it and extract the .iso. Then you open Nero Express and tell it to make a CD from a saved project or image - and browse to the .iso.

[mike_d]

Okay guys...thanks for help. I did the format and reinstall. Now just have to download drivers and finish this little project up. Thanks again!!!