XP HE disk won't boot

This post

has been cross-posted from alt.certification.a-plus



Hello again,

My Windows XP HE disk doesn't boot. And I need it to.

When I slip the disk into the CD or the DVD drive, and boot the box, all I
get is a hyphen blinking. The HP startup screen appears first, all the
drives are found, the memory, all that other . Then just blinking. The
drives spin, I can hear them .

The blue screen that says "Press any key to boot from CD is curiosusly, and
painfully, missing.

In the BIOS, the CD is specified to boot first.


What I have tried:

-changing the first boot device to be DVD ROM drive

-changing the relationship between the CD and DVD drives from cable
select/cable select to Master/Slave

-downloaded copies of NTDETECT, BOOT.INI, and NTLDR; then burned them onto
the root of the XP disk. Got the files from bootdisk.com.


Additional info:

-I once had a disk, comprised of the same files as are on this one, it used
to work. Lost it.

-I tried another recovery disk from another machine, it was read as a
bootable disk. Didn't push that install any further, it's a '98 disk.

Am stumped. Please help.

Thanks, in advance,

smackedass

smackedass wrote:
This post
has been cross-posted from alt.certification.a-plus

My Windows XP HE disk doesn't boot. And I need it to.

When I slip the disk into the CD or the DVD drive, and boot the
box, all I get is a hyphen blinking. The HP startup screen appears
first, all the drives are found, the memory, all that other . Then
just blinking. The drives spin, I can hear them .

The blue screen that says "Press any key to boot from CD is
curiosusly, and painfully, missing.

In the BIOS, the CD is specified to boot first.


What I have tried:

-changing the first boot device to be DVD ROM drive

-changing the relationship between the CD and DVD drives from cable
select/cable select to Master/Slave

-downloaded copies of NTDETECT, BOOT.INI, and NTLDR; then burned
them onto the root of the XP disk. Got the files from bootdisk.com.

Additional info:

-I once had a disk, comprised of the same files as are on this one,
it used to work. Lost it.

-I tried another recovery disk from another machine, it was read as
a bootable disk. Didn't push that install any further, it's a '98
disk.
Am stumped. Please help.

Bad/scratched CD and/or drive.
Tried booting in another system with said CD?
Tried making a copy of said CD?
Tried a different CD?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html