How do I make Boot CD?

[tape]

My Dell 4600 (120Gig HD, 1.5 Gig mem, 3Ghz) only 2 yrs old. Came with XPpro SP1. Tried to create boot CD using slipstreaming as suggested on MANY sites. No luck. Just got new XPpro CD from Dell that has SP2 on it. I still can't make a Boot CD. Perhaps I am still thinking about booting from a CD back when I used MAC OS, but with the CDs I have, it seems that all I can do is use them to repair/reinstall XP. Am I missing something here? All I want to do is put a CD in and boot from it when I start my PC. I must have tried 4-5 different sets of directions and have about a dozen new coasters. Anyone able to tell me HOW to make a bootable CD from the Dell XPpro CD I have? I have Nero Ultra 6 for buring. Much thanks to anyone who can help!!!

[glc]

Umm......the XP CD is bootable, and is used to install or repair XP - what do you expect a boot CD to do?

[sgtspector]

What happens when you boot? Nothing or does it just boot the hdd? If it's the hdd check the boot order in your bios. Put the cd first then floppy and then your hdd.

[tape]

GLC,
No reason to be so condescending. I guess I would expect that my whole desk top would look somewhat different if started from boot CD rather than HD. I did mention in my post that I may have been thinking of my days with Mac OS. You could have responded accordingly, but i do thank you for your response.

[tape]

Sgtspector,
I am assuming the boot is from my HD in that the desktop looks the same and all the normal startup items load. I have made changes in Boot Sequence so my IDE-CD boots first and then the HD. My CD spins as I startup and so perhaps my PC is booting from the CD. I guess I am thinking the screen should look somewhat like when I startup in safe mode. Thanks for your kind response.

[tape]

Sgtspector,
Tried experiemnt. Powered down, inserted XP CD, disconnected HD. Upon startup, I get screen that says to press F1 to continue or F2 for setup page. Pressing F1 did nothing. Setup was already set to boot from CD first. Unable to restart. Connected my secondary HD. Above event repeated themselves. I am guessing I am not able to boot from this XP CD from Dell.

[glc]

with the CDs I have, it seems that all I can do is use them to repair/reinstall XP.

That is totally correct.

I apologize if I came across wrong - the XP CD is supposed to be bootable, and it boots into a text screen which allows you to install or repair XP. It doesn't boot into a Windows desktop of any sort. Every XP CD I've worked with does this, Dell or otherwise.

If the other CD's boot into the text screen but the new one doesn't, the new one is defective, the other ones are fine.

If you could post exactly what you want to do, we can help you. If you want a self-contained XP on a CD that boots into a GUI, you need to make a BartPE CD - which you cannot do with a Dell XP CD, you need a standard generic XP CD. I'll rephrase my original question - why do you want to boot with a CD? I'm not trying to insult you, trust me.

Admin note: If you have something to add, please use the Edit function instead of making new posts. Thank you.

[tape]

GLC
My whole dilemma began when I read a post from another forum about a PC slowing and seemingly getting bogged down with mulitple apps running. A response to that posting led me to try the suggestion of disconnecting the HD & booting from a CD (or other disk). This would cause the PC to reset something (I am afraid there was lots of technical abbreviations and I am over slimplifying the process). Whether this suggestion had any validity became meaningless once I attempted to boot from a source other than my HD. Since i began writing this series of posts, I was able to boot from the CD when placed in my DVD drive. Don't know why I never tried this before. Perhaps because the DVD has a lower letter ID.
ps-I tried to 'edit' an earlier posting, but it never showed up in the forum.

[glc]

The way to stop multiple apps from running and bogging down is run msconfig and examine your startup list. Booting with a CD isn't going to do anything for you here. You just need to do some standard maintenance. The only time you should need to boot with a CD is if Windows won't even start in normal or safe mode - or you want to reinstall Windows. It's also useful if you want to run hardware diagnostics that run from a boot CD - such as a memory or hard drive tester. You don't even have to do that with a Dell if your diagnostic partition is intact, there's diags available by pressing F12 immediately on startup. If not, the Dell Resource CD that came with your Dell is bootable into diagnostics.