Trying to reinstall Windows XP from cd drive but no joy....?

Jomo

Hi,

Any advise please...

I tried booting my laptop but there were no icons appearing on my desktop so I tried to reboot with the installation disk in my drive (to reinstall the operating system software), as instructed I pressed a key to boot from the cd drive but it will not do so. Windows keeps booting up to the empty desktop.

Does anybody know if this is a hardware or software issue?

Thanks

aliEnRIK

to boot with the cd you need to go into BIOS (before actual bootup) and change the order of bootup to CD FIRST
You then put the cd in and press any key when it asks

The ACTUAL problem ~ keep pressing F8 until the SAFE MODE SELECTION screen pops up
Select SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING
If its still an empty desktop then you may as well install windows (But youll need drivers for the computer)

If SAFE MODE screen then ~
Uninstall anything that you did recently that may have effected it (If anything)

Download MALWAREBYTES (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD NOW')
http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html
UPDATE and FULL SCAN
Post the log here AFTER youve deleted everything it finds

Download CCLEANER (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION' ~ make sure YAHOO TOOLBAR is unticked on installation)
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
Run the CLEANER scan (UNTICK 'cookies')
Then run the REGISTRY scan (Backup the registry when it asks)

Download HIJACK THIS (Make sure you click 'DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION')
http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/
REBOOT (Must be run in NORMAL mode assuming it will do)
Click DO A SCAN AND SAVE A LOGFILE (Takes seconds) then post the log so we can see whats running
(do NOT do anything else with Hijack but scan and post the FULL log)

gaming_guy

to get the icons/start bar back, just wait until the blank desktop loads then press ctrl + alt + delete > file > new task > type explorer.exe into the box and press ok.

this should make it slightly easier to do what Rik suggested

aliEnRIK

Fair play gaming ~ but I was thinking if it IS because of infection then malwarebytes likely wont run in normal mode. Still, lets see what happens

Jomo

Thanks for your advice guys, I have printed your comments off and I will attempt to follow your advice tonight...fingers crossed!

If not then I will have to call Dell, find out if I'm covered under the warrenty (which is why I wanted to establish whether it was a hardware issue as I won't be covered if not).

Thanks again!

Jomo

Hi all,

Firstly I pressed ctrl + alt + delete etc. but it said that such a file did not exist?

Then I rebooted the laptop and pressed F8 as instructed, 'safe mode with networking' etc. and it stated 'A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

BAD_POOL_CALLER

?? ??

Jomo

Any takers???

daily_2

It's a driver problem, Dells have a restore partition, which is the easiest way of getting it back to a fresh operating system (but you will lose all your data)

Jaffa.

Have you tried connecting a usb keyboard and going from there? It could be that the laptops keyboard is not being detected or it needs drivers.

Jomo

daily wrote: »

It's a driver problem, Dells have a restore partition, which is the easiest way of getting it back to a fresh operating system (but you will lose all your data)

Hi,

Do you know how I should go about this?

daily_2

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&docid=3E48AE3870775D64E040A68F5B2877D4&journalid=6AE1476C0EB42B3BE040AE0AB8E1621B&Query=&SystemID=&Service!!!!!&contenttype=&os=&component=&lang=&doclang=&toggle=&dl=

To reiterate, it will wipe your data and programs, if you need/want to save your data first, you will need to use a boot cd of some sort.