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Can't Reinstall, won't boot from cd, no floppy 2

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Happo

Happo

IS-IT--Management
Sep 28, 2002
188
AU
I have a system which needs a total wipe and reinstall of xp pro. No floppy drive installed. Two physical hard drives, 40Gb which is split in two for system / user files and a 120Gb Music Drive. I wish to reformat all of 40Gb drive and reinstall xp with partitions as before. It is important that I delete all the existing data from this drive. Problem: Despite going through the bios about 20 times i cannot get the system to boot from a cd at all. It (the cd-rom drive) is listed correctly and listed first in boot order but nothing happens, it just boots the existing installation. Ideas?
Thank you.
Daniel.
 
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So far I have tried two 'known good' boot disks and the xp cd - no go, i don't get it, hopefully someone does..
Thanks.
 
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I can't think of anything to help you with the not booting problem - however I can suggest another way of getting XP installed.

You will only be able to do this if you CD is a Full Retail XP disk, not OEM or Manufacturers Recovery Disk.

Also if your CD is a XP SP1 disk then you will need to first uninstall SP2 from your machine or Slipstream SP2 to you XP CD.

1) Boot to Windows
2) Insert your XP CD
3) If it does not auto play then run the setup.exe file that is on the root folder of the CD
4) Select the Install Windows XP option
5) Select New Installation
6) Follow onscreen instructions
7) The XP installation files will be copied to your HD and a new entry made to your boot.ini file
8) Your machine will be restarted
9) The Windows XP Setup will start automatically as if it was booting from CD.

Hope this helps you and Happy Holidays.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.
 
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Thanks Greg. I had tried the install option you mention above but got "You already have a newer version installed" message. Am currently uninstalling sp2 and will try again.
Happy Christmas.
Daniel.
 
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Have started installation from within windows as above. Will this completely delete all existing files on C / D drive (same physical disk)?
Thanks again.
Daniel.
 
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Hi Daniel,
When you get to the screen that allows you to specify what location you wish to install windows to. You should have a oportunity to delete/create partitions and to format drives. See the following for full details
Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.
 
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I have worked on a couple of systems where boot from CDROM was listed first in BIOS and HDD second. Despite the settings, the system would always boot the HDD anyway.

Solution was set BIOS to boot CDROM first, and second and third boot devices disabled.
 
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Might be a problem deleting/creating/formatting the partition where the setup files are being stored. If there is and it worries you, then you could try the DOS setup procedure.

307848 - HOW TO: Start Setup from MS-DOS in Windows XP

It would be even better if "Frank4d's" idea fixes it.
 
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Happy and safe Christmas to all..
Have reinstalled within windows by uninstalling sp2 first but now i have another problem. I used the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to save my info to the other drive before i reinstalled, I direct it to USMT2.UNC but when i select that folder which contains the 150Mb IMG00001.dat file and 1Kb status file - 'The location that you specified does not contain stored information. Please type a valid folder into the edit box...
Thanks for all your help so far.
 
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I believe the problem that you are experiencing is due to the fact that you had SP2 installed when you made your backup. The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard had some major updates in SP2. First install SP2 on your new installation and then you should be able to restore your backup.

Merry Christmas

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.
 
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Thanks Greg, reinstalling sp2 now...life would be boring if it was easy, just keep telling yourself...
Daniel
 
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Ok, this is still going. Was able to use Files and Settings wizard once installing sp2. Then I used Acronis Disk Director Suite to delete the OLD O/S Partition (C:) Then move the new one (D:) to C:, it rebooted and completed these operations but now all I get on boot is "NTLDR is missing, Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart" Not exactly what I wanted for Christmas... I am still totally unable to boot from cd-rom and the floppy drive appears defective. I can go out and get another FDD but I don't really know what the next step is. Thank you very much for all your help so far.
Daniel.
 
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Are all the links and registry settings that came across from D to C still pointing to D? Does "Acronis Disk Director Suite" compensate for, and handle that problem?

All your boot files would have been on C drive, did they get deleted in the move?

Is the bios pointing to the hard drive as your boot device.
Is the Boot.ini file pointing to the correct drive and partition.

NTLDR is Missing:

320397 - You Receive an "NTLDR Is Missing" Error Message When You Start Your Computer

318728 - HOW TO: Troubleshoot the "NTLDR Is Missing" Error Message in Windows 2000

305595 - HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP

A working floppy and CD Drive would make life less complicated, but not as much fun.

Can the "Acronis Disk Director Suite" Boot Manager do anything to get you going?

Is there an "Undo" or other recovery option with Acronis?

You will find an Acronis support web site at this forum.

HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP (Q289022)

A Discussion About the Bootcfg Command and Its Uses (Q291980)

HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console for Windows XP (Q307654)
 
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Ok. Thanks for all the links and info linney!

Quote:Are all the links and registry settings that came across from D to C still pointing to D? Does "Acronis Disk Director Suite" compensate for, and handle that problem?
I assumed Acronis is capable of doing this, since it offers an option to move the system partition and no warnings presented, but now I fear it is not that easy. Who was it that said 'Assumption is the mother of all f&*^ ups...?'

Quote: A working floppy and CD Drive would make life less complicated, but not as much fun.
Less complicated yes but I think our ideas of fun may differ slightly :p

Quote:
Can the "Acronis Disk Director Suite" Boot Manager do anything to get you going?
There is a bootable rescue disk which I have but same problem with not being able to boot from cd.

Currently though, I cannot access anything since I can't get the computer to boot at all. I feel I must correct this problem first. I have never before come across a computer that just will not boot from a cd and it is this issue that has really thrown me. Even with all other boot devices disabled cd is no good. So, I think step 1, install new FDD. Step 2, boot from floppy and run Acronis.

If I cannot repair it easily or so I am happy with it, another reinstallation of xp might be the go. I really didn't get all that far with the last one.

Thanks, and stars to all the invaluable contributions so far.
 
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I totally agree with Bill on this one. I have tried several utilities on behalf of friends and customers before and not a single one has changed everything correctly.

If you feel up to the task then get your floppy and reinstall.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.
 
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Not enough info on the error but you may have this issue due to the service pack on the cd being an older version than on the system. If this is the case it will not install. Hope this helps.


Amaysin69
JWM
 
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