Ok, let me start out by saying that I reallize that joining a forum for the sole purpose of asking a dumb question is generally not very wise, but I seem to have a pretty much unresolvable problem with booting up my pc. I had been trying to reformat my drive, but whenever I ran xp pro setup, it would not let me access the system recovery screen (It asked my to put the cd in the drive). Then I found out how I could get the system recovery program to run from my hard drive, but whenever I executed the command to do this, it told me that it could not comply because my current install of windows was a more recent version than was on the cd. So I figured it was the service pack 2, so I uninstalled that, and was prompted to reboot. Upon rebooting, it skiped most of the usual stuff (Setup screen) and told me the following: "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" so I tried creating a windows 95 boot disk and reformating that way. It does not recognize the disk, and the error message repeats if I insert the disk and press enter. I have tried with the xp install disk in as well, nothing doing. So, someboy, please, help! I have no interest in keeping the files on my drive. I hhave (had?) a raid on my computer, which I want gone. I do have access to other hard drives to use if that is the problem.

If you want to Clean Install XP you do NOT want the Recovery Console.

If you have a Microsoft XP CD then all you need to do is boot it. Set the BIOS to boot the CD drive prior to the HDD and boot with the CD in the drive. When it says: "Press any key to boot from CD" do so. Follow the prompts to a Clean Install which will format your dive and install XP. Here is a good guide:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html


If your computer is manufactured and the XP CD is an OEM CD e.g. Dell or HP etc. you will need to follow the Dell or HP etc. instructions for a complete factory restore.

If the latter is the case and you need help in searching for instructions let us know the exact make and model of the computer.


Furthermore if you are using a RAID configuration you will need the drivers for your motherboard during the installation of XP at the F6 prompt. If you do not want to use these drives than manually remove them.

Ok, I have looked up how to boot my bios (Phoenix award CMOS) from a cd, and what the tutorials say I should see and what I actually see are two different things, the most notable difference is that "First boot device", "Second boot device", and "Third boot device", are missing from the "Advanced BIOS features" menu. Could this be due to the RAID? Or am I even looking at the right version of the bios? Thus far I have seen no boot sequence options for this computer EVER, even when it worked properly.
Edit: I found the boot sequence, It's 2 pages down on the wrong menu

What is the exact make and model of the computer and or motherboard?

The Boot Menu most likely is not under Advanced but under Boot (usually a separate tab).

Originally Posted by jephree

What is the exact make and model of the computer and or motherboard?

The Boot Menu most likely is not under Advanced but under Boot (usually a separate tab).

Found the boot menu. But, windows does not detect any hard drives! I am pretty much certain one of them is broken, so I disconected it and set the other one as "Primary master". It shows up in the boot menu, but not to xp setup.

Please answer all these questions:

1. What is the exact make and model of the computer?

2. What type of XP CD are you using? Is it Microsoft? Is it Dell? Is it HP? Or what is it?



If your BIOS is set to boot from CD prior to any HDD then just boot the XP CD.

You will not go into Windows. XP will be installed from scratch formatting (erasing) your Hard Drive.


Again this is a good guide to the whole process:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html


If this is a Dell or HP or etc. and or if you are using a Dell or HP or etc. XP CD then please post the exact make and model of the computer. The process then depends on the manufacturer's instructions.

Make and model: Custom build, made by someone I have no means of contacting. Soyo Dragon motherboard. Amd 1800+ processor. I think 512 mb ddr ram. Radeon 1800 pro gpu.
I am using a microsoft cd.
When I try to install windows, it gets to the "Welcome to windows xp" screen and then when I tell it to install, it tells me no hard drive is connected. The hard drive is recognized by the bios, and I can tell it is functioning.

Assuming that the CD drive is on the Secondary Master put the HDD on Primary Master.

Check the jumper setings. Remove any other hard drives.

I did. Like I said before, it shows up as primary master. It is plugged into the primary slot, with the master jumper settings (I checked) and no other drives are connected.

Go back into the BIOS and confirm that Auto-detect is selected as to hard drives.

Also remove (disable) any references to SATA/RAID.


Or try a different hard drive.


And or run a diagnostic on that hard drive.


Do you know the manufacturer of your hard drive?

You will find the major brand boot diagnostics listed here:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287