Hi all,

 

My mates got a problem with his PC. It wont boot up, not even in to safe mode. It's running Windows ME and I can get it to boot up using a boot up disk, but that's about it. Most of the time it will just hang and the odd occasion it brings up error boxes. Can anyone help?

 

Cheers

 

Vijay

ok how about pluggin the hard disk into another mechine as a slave so it don't boot from it the get off all the data you need then Fdisk it.

ok how about pluggin the hard disk into another mechine as a slave so it don't boot from it the get off all the data you need then Fdisk it.

 

I beleive it is a laptop.

yep, it's a laptop ;)

 

Vijay

yep, it's a laptop ;)

 

Vijay

 

If Partition Magic 8 supports DOS you can:

 

Use Partition Magic and split the disk into two partitions (if you have free disk space of course) and then just boot in DOS and copy all the data to the second partition and then FDISK + Format the primamry partition.

Vijay,

 

It sounds like the operating system is shafted to me, what I would surgest you do is go into the bios of the laptop and set it so the CD is the first boot device, put your winME CD in the drive and boot it, it should then give you the option to install the operating system over the existing one. ME by the way is a really bad choice, get XP Pro if you can.

 

Hope this helps..

cheers everyone. If I re-load windows, will it just overwrite the operating software or will it wipe all the info on the drive and start from scratch?

 

Cheers

 

Vijay

It will ask you what you want to do. You can install in the same directory and it will install over the top. You may find that 90% of your programs will need to be installed again, but you saved data will still be there.

for the life of me I cannot get it to boot from the CD. I've changed the BIOS and it gives you the option of pressing "C" to boot from CD but all it does it begin to start from Windows ME from the HD. Any ideas?

 

Cheers

 

Vijay

Maybe the CD you have does not have a boot block on it. In other words it been created for machines with an OS on it already and used for upgrades. You could try booting off your boot floppy and then runnign the install from the dos prompt. I think the boot floppy should set up the DC drivers so you can do this. If this still does not work I will have to look at an ME CD and find the dos install exe and you should be able to re-intall from that.

 

Good luck :)

Hi,

 

Should windows XP be bootable? I've tried my copy and it won't boot from it :( How can I tell if it's bootable or not?

 

Cheers

 

Vijay

Hi,

 

Should windows XP be bootable? I've tried my copy and it won't boot from it :( How can I tell if it's bootable or not?

 

Cheers

 

Vijay

 

As far as I am aware all XP CD's are bootable. You may have to go into the BIOS to tell it to boot from the CD first.

 

On some laptops there will be a key (normally on eof the F keys) that will give you a list of boot devices.

I've changed the BIOS and pressed the hotkey, but it still won't boot from the cd :(

 

Vijay

I've changed the BIOS and pressed the hotkey, but it still won't boot from the cd :(

 

Vijay

 

Is it an original XP CD?. It should not really matter though, unless it is a copy of just the CAB and setup files.

 

Have you got another PC/Laptop you can try and boot the CD from (If not just go down dixons, lol).

 

I can send and image of a bootable floppy disk which will give you CD rom support and you can then run the setup from there.

cheers for the help. The problem with booting from a floppy disk is that when I remove the floppy drive and put in the CD drive (laptop), it won't recognize it. I'll see if the cd loads from my pc.

 

Cheers

 

Vijay

 

both my ME and XP cd's wont boot from my PC :(

 

Vijay

cheers for the help. The problem with booting from a floppy disk is that when I remove the floppy drive and put in the CD drive (laptop), it won't recognize it. I'll see if the cd loads from my pc.

 

Cheers

 

Vijay

 

both my ME and XP cd's wont boot from my PC :(

 

Vijay

 

I know some laptops can be a bit funny. I have some Panasonic's at work and they will not even boot from the Floppy drive as there is no boot sequence in the BIOS.

 

On your PC do you get a message saying 'Press any key to boot from CD' ?. I know this is stating the obvious but have you checked the boot sequence on your PC, to be sure just have the CD drive as the first bootable device and turn the rest off. That is a sure fire way of checking if it will boot from CD.

cheers for the help. The problem with booting from a floppy disk is that when I remove the floppy drive and put in the CD drive (laptop), it won't recognize it. I'll see if the cd loads from my pc.

 

Cheers

 

Vijay

 

both my ME and XP cd's wont boot from my PC :(

 

Vijay

 

Vijay,

 

I'm working in the West End for the next couple of days. If you can get over to Oxford Circus, I'll take a look at it for you!

 

Phil.

I turned off the other boot options on my PC bios so it would only boot from the cd. It kept asking for a valid cd (or something like that).

 

Phil, just sent you a PM, won't be able to get it to you :(

 

Any other ideas, apart from throwing it out the window :)

 

Vijay

I turned off the other boot options on my PC bios so it would only boot from the cd. It kept asking for a valid cd (or something like that).

 

Phil, just sent you a PM, won't be able to get it to you :(

 

Any other ideas, apart from throwing it out the window :)

 

Vijay

 

Are your CD's copys?. Sounds as if they are not bootable. I can send you a copy that I know works if you like.

Hello mate,

 

Thanks for the offer but Phil's already offered the same thing. Your help and advice has really been appreciated though :)

 

Vijay