cannot boot from xp disc

surfshack66

Solid State Member
Messages
9
aright so ive searched and have read alot on this issue but mine seems to be a little different. i have upgraded my desktop computer to vista, with xp originally on it, and have experienced rather slow performance. personally i like vista but this computer cannot handle the operating system and id rather leave it with xp because it is a bit more reliable, considering i am leaving it for my family and will not be able to tend to it regularly next year if something were to go wrong.

anyway i have partitioned my hard drive as i planned on dual booting xp and vista. my problem arises when i try to boot from my xp disc, i have gone into the bios to change the boot order, however it doesnt seem to boot from the disc, rather says error not able to boot or something like that,

i would prefer a way to completely wipe the computer and do a clean install from the xp disc but have not found a way to do so. or if i can find a solution to install xp with vista still on and then format the drive with vista within xp

any help would be much appreciated
 
surfshack, download a copy of Bart's PE Builder, and use it on another computer to build your own Windows PE Disk.

When booting from a windows PE Disk, it runs only from the RAM - so you have total access to the hard drive(s). I would suggest using the basic tools on there to format your hard drive.
 
Hi, welcome to the forum. There are a couple of options for you here.

The first thing that I would recommend is to go back into your bios and change all the stuff you changed back to defaults. Playing around in there isn't a good thing to do unless you absolutely have to.

As for you wanting to boot from the cd that isn't hard. All that you need to do is to insert your windows disk(whichever distro you want to install) then you open your boot loader on start up. When your computer starts and you see your computer logo, there should be some 'F' keys that you can push hit one of those to open your boot loader. Then highlight your drive that you want to start and then hit 'enter'.

The next option that you have is to partition your computer from your vista partition. I am not to familiar as to how you do this as I don't have vista, but there is a program that will do it.

The last option that you have for partitioning your computer is to download the livecd of a program called GParted. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ As I said download the iso for the livecd, and then burn it to a disk, then run GParted. This is a Linux program that is a partition manager, it is very user friendly.

Hope this is helpfull.

Cheers!
 
aright so ive searched and have read alot on this issue but mine seems to be a little different. i have upgraded my desktop computer to vista, with xp originally on it, and have experienced rather slow performance. personally i like vista but this computer cannot handle the operating system and id rather leave it with xp because it is a bit more reliable, considering i am leaving it for my family and will not be able to tend to it regularly next year if something were to go wrong.

anyway i have partitioned my hard drive as i planned on dual booting xp and vista. my problem arises when i try to boot from my xp disc, i have gone into the bios to change the boot order, however it doesnt seem to boot from the disc, rather says error not able to boot or something like that,

i would prefer a way to completely wipe the computer and do a clean install from the xp disc but have not found a way to do so. or if i can find a solution to install xp with vista still on and then format the drive with vista within xp

any help would be much appreciated
I tried this exaxt same thing last week and got nothing but head aches for trying, Vista would load up fine but when I selected XP from the Vista boot menu it woud say something like corrupt ntdlr error can not load etc, its to do with Vista boot loader on the install, I got round it buy using my ghost restore image to restore my xp back to previous state which allowed me to boot straight into XP again first(no more vista boot menu) the Vista partition was still showing in my computer so I reformatted the partition and Wiped Vista off, Do you have a back up image of XP as well? if not then its more technical, if you haven messed with XP yet then boot into Vista then try this http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_xp__stepbystep_guide_with_screenshots.htm
Try using the easy bcd software it shows to get the dual boot loader working, if it works you will get into XP, then just format the Vista partition if you dont want it, make a back up before you format the drive. The reason I could not do that is because I had llready messed with xp first.
 
yep what you will have to do is get hold of this http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

easy BCD then add windows XP to the boot list boot into xp format the vista partition and then boot from your xp disk and repair your boot.ini file
 
I tried a full install of vista a couple months ago by erasing xp and then Vista(NOT THE UPGRADE) but I got fed up of it so I ghosted back to XP but my system wouldn't boot properly because of the Vista boot loader so the only way to fix it was to put the XP DISC in and select recovery console, then at the command prompt type fix boot and fixmbr, and that sorted it.
 
you should'nt have to download nothing, this is rather stupid going threw other pc's,he should just be able to put his disk in and format.

well guys before you jump on his bombfire ask him if its SATA/Ide.

if your using sata when you set your bios to defualt then your hd settings auto goto AHCI which is not correct, you aould need to goto ATA for sata, if your on IDE pick AHCI and i will boot fine.

Anyway if your still not happy and your off balence then try another XP disk, if your still failing, take your battery out of your motherbored also you might want to flash the mobo by taking out the jumper.

if you are stuck google on how to flash your motherbored.


Anyway try them in the order, if your still failing ill give you some more options.

goodluck
 
surfshack, download a copy of Bart's PE Builder, and use it on another computer to build your own Windows PE Disk.

When booting from a windows PE Disk, it runs only from the RAM - so you have total access to the hard drive(s). I would suggest using the basic tools on there to format your hard drive.

tried this and still no option to boot from disc...just restarted normally to vista

you should'nt have to download nothing, this is rather stupid going threw other pc's,he should just be able to put his disk in and format.

well guys before you jump on his bombfire ask him if its SATA/Ide.

if your using sata when you set your bios to defualt then your hd settings auto goto AHCI which is not correct, you aould need to goto ATA for sata, if your on IDE pick AHCI and i will boot fine.

Anyway if your still not happy and your off balence then try another XP disk, if your still failing, take your battery out of your motherbored also you might want to flash the mobo by taking out the jumper.

if you are stuck google on how to flash your motherbored.


Anyway try them in the order, if your still failing ill give you some more options.

goodluck

this option sounds great if i do not have to install anything..however i am lost with IDE and AHCI..im not too sure on what to do exactly

and just a quick edit..i am currently trying to install xp onto the computer..so my problem is when i try to install xp i have no option to install from disc..just to clarify

didnt find a solution to my problem..however i was able to install xp by downloading boot discs from windows via floppy and just did it that way...thanks anyway for all the help
 
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