Can't boot from CD nor MS floppies

[Guest]

I want to reformat my hd, but I can't get my PC to boot from the Win XP Pro
CD. BIOS has cd as the 1st boot option. Even after setting all 3 options to
cd, it boots from my hd.

So, I downloaded the MS program to create 6 boot floppies
(WindowsXP-KB310994-SP2-Pro-BootDisk-ENU). Changed my bios. Booted from the
floppy, allright. Asked for the 2nd floppy. Then, promptly hung. Nothing
moved.

Tried recreating the floppies, even re-downloading the above program, but
same problem occurs.

I've been spending the whole week wresting with this problem. I'd greatly
appreciate some help. Thanks!

 

[NobodyMan]

I want to reformat my hd, but I can't get my PC to boot from the Win XP Pro
CD. BIOS has cd as the 1st boot option. Even after setting all 3 options to
cd, it boots from my hd.

So, I downloaded the MS program to create 6 boot floppies
(WindowsXP-KB310994-SP2-Pro-BootDisk-ENU). Changed my bios. Booted from the
floppy, allright. Asked for the 2nd floppy. Then, promptly hung. Nothing
moved.

Tried recreating the floppies, even re-downloading the above program, but
same problem occurs.

I've been spending the whole week wresting with this problem. I'd greatly
appreciate some help. Thanks!

How exactly are you attempting to boot from the CD? I've never seen a
BIOS where you can plop the CD in, reboot, and then just sit there and
expect the CD to boot. Every BIOS I've worked with has a brief
message telling you to press any key to boot from CD. If you don't,
then it proceeds to boot from the next non-CD item in the boot list,
eventually defaulting (usually) to the first device in the first IDE
chain.

 

[Guest]

Of course, when it said type any key to boot from cd, I DID typed a key.
Several times even. Within the 5 secs limit it gives. It just ignores it.

What about the MS 6 floppies hanging?

 

[Guest]

Of course, I DID typed a letter, several even, when it asked me to type a
letter to boot from cd...within the 5 secs limit that it gives, but it simply
ignored. I did the process several times, in both cdroms that I have, all
with the same result. No problem with my cdroms, in case you ask. If I slot
the Win cd in, it proceeds to install Windows...

And what about the 6 MS floppies? Problem with the program there? ANyone
ever used these & they worked?