windows xp booting instructions

[busa4]

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp!! i built a computer out of parts and i attempted to install xp pro but nothing happens. i booted the computer up with the xp pro cd rom and it partitioned the hard drive, then it asked me to agree to the terms of installing xp, i agreed. it never asked for the cd key, then it started loading many files and after all the files have been loaded it said windows xp setup is complete. it restarted the computer and it brings me back to the screen where it says press "delete" to enter setup or press "f1" to continue. i press "f1" to continue and it does the same thing. it trys to setup windows again, bringing me through the agreement terms again and it loads the same files to the partitioned drive. what do i do next? at this point im lost. i should of stuck with working on cars!!!!

[bailey]

you already made your first mistake,
when it reboots your system. your supposed to remove the cd and go into the bios so you can tell it to boot from the c drive
you may now have two install of xp.
but won't know that till you remove the cd and reset the bios.
post back your resulrs please

the second mistake might be useing a copy of a xp cd,
maybe or whatever, as I am not aware of any xp installation that does not require a key to complete the install.
so something very strange indeed is going on here.

[Alfie]

When it asks you to hit a key,ignore it,XP will continue on it's own,if,for example,it asks to hit a key to boot off cd,after the initial reboot,ignore it.

[busa4]

i removed the xp cd and let it reboot like u said. i went into the setup bios sreen and looked in standard cmos and advanced bios. my setting for drive is as follows. boot device 1 is floppy, boot 2 is hard drive, boot 3 is cd rom, etc. the only thing i notice when the system is booting up is that it says the hard drive is on ide primary as a slave and the ide primary master is blank. also my windows xp is a copy, just to let you know. when i boot without the xp cd it just sits at the screen that displays press "f1" to continue or press "delete" to enter setup.

[not important]

As Bailey said, set your CDROM as your 1st boot device in the Bios. After XP installs the files, it will reboot and ask you if you want to boot from the CD or the HDD. Choose the HDD.

[bigandy]

Originally posted by Alfie When it asks you to hit a key,ignore it,XP will continue on it's own,if,for example,it asks to hit a key to boot off cd,after the initial reboot,ignore it.

This is the way I did it.

I found out the hard way just like you are. I didn't think tying to boot from the HD would work in this case.

[andyms18a]

the press f1 key to continue is because your bios is not set up corectley or the battery is dead as its not holding its setings this has nothing to do with xp first make shore the bios is set corectley set the first boot device to cd rom second to hdd and thurd to floppy save and exit turn off the computer and open the case place the hard drive on ide 1 as the master and the cd on ide 2 as the master if you only have 2 drives dont use slave then reboot the computer enter the bios and set the ide devices to auto save and exit place the xp cd in the drive and reboot the computer you shod get a prompt to press any key to boot from cd press a key and start setup deleate any partitions you have made with previos setups and reinstal a fresh copy of xp when it finishes it reboots do not press any keys untill affter it loads from the hard drive and continues with setup on the next reboot go into the bios and set first boot device to ide0 and second to cd rom save and reboot now you wil be asked for the cd key and to set up reginal setings

[KLIKitY]

Hey guys, I've been having fairly identical problems as Busa4 above.. I've followed what advice you have given, but still the XP set-up goes round in circles.
Also, upon booting a message comes up saying:

BOOT DISK ERROR, REPLACE SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

I never see the "Press any key to boot from CD". Upon inserting the Windows XP disk (it is a copy!??) a message comes up saying

Booting from ATAPI CD-Rom: No emulation

Any advice would be very warmly appreciated, as every stage of this PC build has been extremely frustrating (all a learning process though)..... Cheers

[andyms18a]

Originally posted by KLIKitY inserting the Windows XP disk (it is a copy!??)

please see the sit faq at http://forum.pcmech.com/misc.php?s=s=&action=faq if its not a genuine xp cd with licence we cant help you