I Need Help. Reinstalling Windows XP

imsi

imsi wrote: »

Well I don't have much experience in BIOS settings but figured I didn't have much to lose.
Advanced/IDE Configuration/ then selecting [Not Detected] for the HDDs has at least allowed me to get the installation setup running and disks/and partitions recognised.
Is this likely to give problems further down the line?

It gets worse
I changed Primary Master Drive to CDROM and now I can't get into the BIOS even

Message ends:
Primary Master Drive ATAPI Incompatible
Press F1 to Resume

F1 key gets no response

fwor

I think you're changing the wrong settings in the BIOS (but you probably know that by now!).

What you've changed is telling the BIOS to expect to see a CD-ROM on the Primary Master connection, when in fact there's a HDD connected there.

You probably can't get into the BIOS because it's failing the POST testing. If you disconnect the HDD and power it on again you should be able to get back into the BIOS and change back the Primary Master to be a hard disk again.

Changing the Primary Master & Slave, Secondary Master & Slave settings will not change the boot order.

esuhl

fwor wrote: »

Except that they are just going to get the "NTLDR missing" error if they do that!

I thought you suggested that setting partition flags might help...? If so, the OP could have booted a GParted CD, fixed the flag settings, then (hopefully) rebooted into Windows...

imsi

fwor wrote: »

I think you're changing the wrong settings in the BIOS (but you probably know that by now!).

What you've changed is telling the BIOS to expect to see a CD-ROM on the Primary Master connection, when in fact there's a HDD connected there.

You probably can't get into the BIOS because it's failing the POST testing. If you disconnect the HDD and power it on again you should be able to get back into the BIOS and change back the Primary Master to be a hard disk again.

Changing the Primary Master & Slave, Secondary Master & Slave settings will not change the boot order.

Ok, I've gone back to the BIOS, put settings back to default, set to boot from CDROM first.

I've booted from Hiren's Boot CD but my arrow keys don't allow me to select an option

fwor

imsi wrote: »

I've booted from Hiren's Boot CD but my arrow keys don't allow me to select an option

I vaguely recall seeing this before, but can't remember how to overcome it. If you're using a USB keyboard and the PC has the older style PS/2 socket, try a keyboard in that.

TBH, I'm not sure how Hirens is going to help, as I haven't used it for a long time - I use tools like SystemRescueCD and GPARTED these days because they are open source and Hirens isn't.

imsi

Windows has installed now. After removing the Hiren disc and putting in XP disc, the next reboot went srtaight to windows install at the point where mouse works. Up til now that had never happened.
I only wish I knew exactly what I'd done to make it work.
Many thanks for all the suggestions.

fwor

The probable cause is that the disk's MBR still had an entry for the old XP install, even though the partition that it was installed on had been reformatted.

Hence the Windows install was thinking that an OS was already present.

I'm guessing that when Hirens boots up it checks the MBR to see if it points to a valid OS and, if not, clears it.

This would then allow a clean install of Windows.