Hi from Scotland, how are we all? I want to fully reinstall XP on my laptop but it will not boot from the XP CD even after changing boot order. It seems to be a common problem and I have tried all of the things that seem to turn up. I got an updated BIOS which made no difference, I tried all the different boot orders, there is no option to delete any of the other boot options, I even tried to make a FLOPPY boot set from Microsoft but had problems there too, I need to completely wipe evertything from the HDD and start again but XP just reinstalls and leaves all my files intact, by the way the laptop is a Compaq Presario 2100 which works fine otherwise.Many thanks in anticipation, Jim.You can't boot from a diskette either? Did you make sure the diskette was bootable?

Did you try replacing your DVD-ROM player? You should PERFORM these 2 things.

1. Boot that CD/DVD on different machine, to see if its working and bootable.

2. Use another bootable CD/DVD, to see if the drive is working.

Hi guys, thanks for replying. DVD player works fine , I am trying to boot from the Windows XP CD which should hopefully enable me to FORMAT the partition and do a complete fresh install of XP, but it will only ever boot from the hard disc , floppy drive works ok in that it reads floppies but when I try to write the Microsoft boot disc files(downloaded from Microsoft to the 6 floppies it goes so far and then has an error which may be because the floppies are a bit old, even though they format ok , Jim. Is there a better way of trying to do what I am doing maybe?The XP boot disks are redundant. Can you try a Windows 98 bootdisk instead? Get it off bootdisk.com.

If that works, you're most likely not configuring your BIOS PROPERLY when it comes to the boot order.

Ok thanks for replying, will try that, boot disc order seems ok as the highlighted one for CD is at top, then save and exit but it just ignores it and boots from HDD, Jim.And you are certain the CD player works? What kind of laptop is it?

Can you disable the other boot devices? Maybe it just needs more time. Hi Raptor, its a Compaq Presario 2100, I don't see an option on the BIOS to disable the other boot options, DVD?CD player works fine, it will load XP cd no problem and other things from other CDs, thanks again, Jim.When in setup pressing F10 saves changes and exits...
Have you tried this way yet ? ?Yes thanks patio, that is what I am doing, Jim.Yes, you should try another CD first!! and set BIOS
if it also DOESNT work, your computer needs repair.