XP won't boot

[Saxoholic]

My friend's computer will not boot. When we turn it on it goes to a screen that says something about either there being a hardware conflict, or windows wasn't shut down properly. THen it asks whether to start in safe mode, safe w/ command, safe w/ networking, last known good config, or start normally. No matter what option is chosen, it won't boot. It just locks up.

I have no idea what to do other than format, and i don't know how i'm going to format if I can't get to a command prompt to begin with. It's got a fat32 file system.

 

[Heisenberg]

To format and reinstall, just put in the XP cd and boot off of it.

 

[Saxoholic]

He only has the XP upgrade cd, will it work from that, or will i need to use an ME or 98 cd?

 

[Insidious]

he can use the update CD from scratch, but it will ask for the previous version CD to verify somewhere along the way (I think)

-Sid

 

[Saxoholic]

It still takes me to the same error screen....

Is there a way i can make a boot disc on this computer so that i can get to a command prompt? How do I go about doing that?

 

[Heisenberg]

You can't install from a command prompt anyway, so that wouldn't do any good. Are you sure you have the machine set to boot from the cd first in the BIOS?

 

[Insidious]

See if this has what you want

-Sid

I just saw the previous note..... YES make sure your BIOS is set up to boot from CD before HD

 

[Saxoholic]

It's set up to boot cd then floppy then hdd. My thinking is, if I get to a command prompt I can reformat.

 

[Heisenberg]

There's no need to get to a prompt. Just boot from the XP cd and it will let you reformat and install.

 

[Saxoholic]

it's not booting from any bootable CD, but it is booting from floppy.

 

[Saxoholic]

I take that back... it's booting from every cd except the win xp upgrade cd.
If I go to command prompt it won't format.... ::confused as hell::

 

[Insidious]

Tell the guy that copied it for you that he needs to use disk copy, not just try and copy all the files....

(Shame on you!)

 

[snidy1]

It might be a hardware issue, try taking evrything out except HD, video, and one stick of ram. If it boots up, put one thing back in at a time. I'd try that before a fresh install.