Evil Loop Installing XP from CD

[Skillet38]

I'm currently in the middle of trying to put my system back to work (after accidentally formating the wrong drive - yes I feel like an idiot), and putting me mum together a new pc (Abit NF7-s) as well, and I'm in a bit of a bind.

I've always installed windows from a floppy I think, but since I couldn't find my old '95 boot floppy with fdisk,format et al on it, I thought I'd do a boot/setup from CDrom. I changed the boot order in bios to CD first, and, un-overclocked (!) my Epox 8rda+'s XP2500.

Windows (XP Pro) seems to enjoy starting off it's CD, and off to a fresh install we go..... until it initializes, and tells you it is restarting. It does that, and my understanding was, that it would recognize the CD in the drive, and continue. What mine is doing is, after rebooting, it boots from the CD again, and tells me that setup is examining my system, hence starting the whole process over again. Rather nasty.

I've tried entering CMOS as it's restarting and changing the boot order..... to no avail..... been yanking the drive out and formatting it in another machine between tries, but ....... yada yada yada

am I missing something obvious here ?
this has happened with 2 seperate Win CDs.


oh, I found a site mybootdisks.com, and attempted to make a set of boot floppies for WinXP, but I got a I/O error when attempting to use them.


any help is much appreciated.

cheers.

 

[capeskate]

I had the same exact problem a while ago with an XP Home disk, and I felt like an idiot. For some reason when I use any other windows xp disk it recognized where it was after boot, and continued the install.

I'm also clueless as to why this happened...

 

[KF]

>after rebooting, it boots from the CD again, and tells me...
Doesn't it say "Press any key to boot from CD"? So don't press any key. If you don't press a key, it boots off the HD where it continues the installation. That's the way it supposed to go.

They did it that way so you don't have to pull the CD out when the installation reboots.

IAC, that's the way it worked when I tried it just now.

Of course if you boot the CD again, it will start all over again, but I think after a certain point, it will detect that the installation has been partially done, and ask you if you want to resume .

 

[capeskate]

Well, when I did it way back, it never asked me to press any key to boot, and I didn't press any key. Just jumped into the loop.

 

[Skillet38]

Originally posted by: capeskate
Well, when I did it way back, it never asked me to press any key to boot, and I didn't press any key. Just jumped into the loop.

ditto

I'm guessing that the strange behavior may be due to it being a burnt copy

 

[capeskate]

Hmmm......mine was a burnt copy too......

But...I think I tried it with the original too, and I had a hard time...somehow it eventuall worked...

 

[capeskate]

But wait a minute....why would that matter if it was a burnt copy...aren't we as consumers allowed to make copies for our own personal backup??

 

[Sianath]

Making Copies

Requests to make copies of Microsoft software products are handled on a case-by-case basis and do require written permission. Requests to make extra copies of product should be submitted following the guidelines on How to Submit a Request to Use Software. Please note the following:


Microsoft Select Program: Please review the information on the following web site regarding the Microsoft Select program: http://www.microsoft.com/business/licensing/select/default.asp. This gives you the details on Microsoft's volume-licensing program for business, government, and educational organizations. Potential Select customers can consult the Select 4.0 list of frequently asked questions. Existing Select customers should contact their Microsoft Select representative with questions.
If you are seeking permission to make copies of older or obsolete versions of Microsoft product due to hardware or other non-compatibility issues, please see Downgrades.

http://www.microsoft.com/permission/copyrgt/cop-soft.htm#Copies



I honestly don't remember what the current stance was on copies for backup purposes... I know some EULAs cover it and some don't. Look in yours if you are curious or check licensing (800-426-9400).

 

[jyates]

I've used a burnt back up to install to my computer and it always
says something like "press any key to boot from cd".

Mine never has automatically booted to the cdrom unless I pressed
a key first.

I wonder if you might try another cdrom drive and see if it
fixes your problem?

 

[Tam]

When windows does its first reboot and you go into the bios, what do you set the boot order to.
It needs to be set to drive C:
This works for me every time. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Spleeze]

Let it boot from the cd ONE time... The first time it asks you say ok and let it boot... When the computer restarts it will see the cd again and ask if you want to boot from it... Just let it pass... Make sure the hard drive is set as the second boot drive. Just boot off of the cd ONCE then never boot from it again, but leave it in the drive....