Curious boot failure

[gord]

I have a PC with a corrupted XP installation but I can no longer boot from
either of the two CD drives or the floppy. This prevents me from reloading
the OS, naturally.

A very strange behaviour is observed when using the Windows Explorer. Any
CD-ROM or floppy that is a bootable medium will not show its contents; any
non-bootable media does show its folders and files as expected.

My concern is that the BIOS has failed or has changed somehow but
management of the BIOS appears normal. Any ideas?

Gord.

 

[Leonard Grey]

Gord:

When you want to reinstall Windows over itself you don't boot from the
Windows CD. You start Windows, insert the CD and follow the instructions
for an upgrade.

When you want to clean-install XP (i.e., erase your hard disk and start
from scratch) you don't use Windows Explorer. Instead, you boot the
computer from your Windows CD. (You need to set your CD as the first
boot device. You make this setting in the BIOS.)

 

[Ron Martell]

I have a PC with a corrupted XP installation but I can no longer boot from
either of the two CD drives or the floppy. This prevents me from reloading
the OS, naturally.

That indicates a major hardware problem with the motherboard and/or
drive cables. It is highly unlikely that 3 different disk drives
would fail simultaneously. You need to have a hardware tech take a
look at the computer so as to resolve this issue.

A very strange behaviour is observed when using the Windows Explorer. Any
CD-ROM or floppy that is a bootable medium will not show its contents; any
non-bootable media does show its folders and files as expected.

My concern is that the BIOS has failed or has changed somehow but
management of the BIOS appears normal. Any ideas?

Does your BIOS setup have an option to load default values? If so
then try using that and see if it resolves the boot drive issues.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[gord]

Thanks Ron, I went to computer shop where I bought the machine and they
suggested that I reset the CMOS BIOS by removing the battery for a few
minutes - no luck unfortunately!

It does appear to be a major hardware failure that will require a new
motherboard to fix. It's one of those cost/benefit decisions that's
difficult to make.
Regards, Gord