how do I configure my pc to boot from cd please?

bluedog

I'm not very techie or understand all techie/pc lingo though can follow instructions ok so hope someone can help me please.

I need to do a format and re-installation of windows xp but my pc won't boot from the cd. (Basically we could do with a new pc but this measure will do for now and is long over-due.)

When putting the disc in the drive and re-starting, I get the error message "cannot boot from cd - code 5". I've searched and scoured these pages, got books from the library and hunted around microsoft's site yet cannot find the answers.

DS needs this done ASAP so he can use the pc for his A level work so any help or advice will be great.

gamma

Make sure that you enter the BIOS by pressing Delete on F2 repeatedly as the computer starts (You will see a message that says Press Delete to enter setup)

This is the Bios . Look for a setting that says Boot Order and change the 1st option to Boot from CD ( This might be set as IDE1 or SATA)

Save and Exit .. and try and boot again.

Couple of question : what computer do you have and what does error 5 mean? do you know? The manual might tell you.

When you boot can you hear the CD spinning? or the CD being accessed?
Does it prompt a message saying - boot from cd.....press esc to skip?
Is the CD a windows original or a backup?

shockingmoment

sounds like your PC is trying to access the CD but can't.

Could be either the CD drive or the boot CD itself. Can you try another? ie put the boot CD in a working system and see if it boots up (but stop short of reloading the OS) or - put another boot CD in the drive?

To set the boot order you need to get in to the BIOS settings on startup - usually pressing DEL or F2 or F11 - watch the bootup screen for the prompt!

Hope this helps.

bluedog

Thanks for your suggestions.

I've gone into the BIOS but must be going wrong somewhere as I can't figure out how to change it if it does need changing! The list does give several sequences The boot sequence is "CD rom,C,A" according to the BIOS. I don't know if this will help, but on booting normally, it says "Boot from Atapi CD Rom - Cannot boot from CD - Code 5.

My pc is home made out of components from 2-3 pc's plus new bits, by my BIL and he originally installed it all. I've got both Windows XP Home edition OEM disc and a Restore disc, the COA (I do get all windows updates) plus the manuals that were with the original pc but nothing in there tells me what "Code 5" means. (BIL has moved miles away so can't help now!)

I put the OS disc in and did a compatibility test and it said "Cannot upgrade because cannot upload this file. \i386\WINNTUPG\NETUPGRD.DLL". This has confused me a bit and a search of the disc shows it is on there.

I've also gone into the System Configuration Utility and on BOOT.INI it says this;
DEFAULT=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
(operating systems)
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="MicrosoftWindowsXPhomeEdition"/fastdetect/noexecute/=optin

I can't try the boot cd in another pc until tomorrow at the earliest, but I do have a spare cd drive so may try that if I can find it.

Seagull

What motherboard do you have, make and model ?

rosscobley

Sounds like a cd rom fault. Change the cd drive if not its the disk

Donnie

Is it a 'bootable' CD? Otherwise you may need a 'start-up' disc.
Upgrade? Is it a 'full' version or an 'upgrade' version?

bluedog

Thanks for all your help everyone. My pc now won't boot up at all and I'm using a friends pc but haven't got all the details with me regrettably (such as motherboard info) but this is what I tried and did before this latest "blip".I changed the cd rom but still got the same error messages and it wouldn't boot from cd though worked fine other than that. I took the OS disc to my friends and it booted up fine without problems (but didn't go through with installation obviously!). As an additional thing, I ran the compatibility check and got the exact same error message as with my own pc about not being able to upgrade so I guess this isn't part of the problem now.However, DS went on the pc last weekend and since then it will not boot up at all. I can't get a straight answer from him as to what happened except that when he went online it "went funny" so he came offline and played on the sims instead. He said he closed down properly without problems too. It was all fine when I left it and had restarted to double check beforehand anyway after changing over the cd drive. The error message on the opening screen says something about possible software and/or hardware changes and gives a list of options for booting up. No matter which I select, it just will not though, not even into safe mode. I get the page with the windows logo and the bar loading but it then flashes a blue screen so briefly that I've no idea what it says and then returns to the screen with boot up options. I didn't change anything beyond the cd drive such as BIOS or anything and never had any problems when I originally installed the drive so don't think it can be that but am now totally at a loss as to what to do. Is there a way to get it to boot up at all now please although it seems an impossible question to ask?!

Donnie

Sounds as though you will need to do a complere format and re-install.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8fe6868-6e4f-471c-b455-bd5afee126d8&displaylang=en

bluedog

Thank you again! I thought I'd left a message the other day but I obviously messed up on that one!

I'm back with another problem now though I'm afraid. I downloaded from the link Donnie and everything seemed to be going fine. The bootdisks worked and I was able to start my OS disc from the cdrom drive ok and it opened up the Windows XP setup screen without any problems. I formatted the hard drive as per the instructions and that's when it went horribly wrong. I selected to load windows without any partitions and thought it was preparing to install windows but I got an error message instead which doesn't sound good to me at all. It says:

"Windows XP Home Edition Setup.

The following value in the .SIF file used by setup is corrupted or missing:

Value 0 on the line in section [SourceDisksFiles} with key "SP".cab"

Setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3".

Am I fighting a losing battle or is there anything else to try please?

albertross_2

http://www.jsifaq.com/SF/Tips/Tip.aspx?id=2938

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/19766/19766.html