No "Press Any Key To Boot From CD" option on install!

[JCW]

I am installing a clean XP Pro onto a new Maxtor 300gb from a clean disk and
when I boot there is no Press any key option and it goes right to inspecting
configuration and it goes through the setup files then back to configuration
etc. Can someone tell me why this is doiing this? Please...
JCW

 

[Taha Tungekar]

I am installing a clean XP Pro onto a new Maxtor 300gb from a clean disk and
when I boot there is no Press any key option and it goes right to inspecting
configuration and it goes through the setup files then back to configuration
etc. Can someone tell me why this is doiing this? Please...
JCW

Hi JCW,

You Default or Primary boot drive is probably set to your HDD instead
of your DVD/CDRom drive. You can go to your bios and change this
setting to use ur DVD/CDRom drive as the primary boot drive. Another
reason could be that your Windows XP CD is not bootable or is corrupt.
Verify that ur CD works by using it on another computer.

Hope this helps

-Taha Tungekar

 

[JCW]

Thanks for the reply, My cdrom is set as 1st boot device and the disk checks
out fine , no scratches etc. I was able to install this morning when the
option '" Press any key " was available, but the 300gb weren't showing up so
I used the Maxblast software to partition the HD and then tried teh
reinstallation and now I have the issue with around and around, Any other
ideas would be appreciated.

JCW

 

[Anna]

JCW

Thanks for the reply, My cdrom is set as 1st boot device and the disk
checks out fine , no scratches etc. I was able to install this morning
when the option '" Press any key " was available, but the 300gb weren't
showing up so I used the Maxblast software to partition the HD and then
tried teh reinstallation and now I have the issue with around and around,
Any other ideas would be appreciated.

JCW:
When you're booting to the XP installation CD to install the OS on a
"virgin" HDD, such as your 300 GB HDD, the "Press any key..." legend will
(usually) *not* appear, since the system will detect an
unpartitioned/unformatted HDD and proceed straight to the installation
process. So that probably explains why you didn't see the "Press any key"
notation.

Is it possible that your 300 GB Maxtor is a SATA HDD? And that you have to
install SATA drivers for that HDD through the F6 procedure? Although if that
were the case a CD-generated message should appear (following the setup
files install) indicating no HDD detected. But since you didn't mention that
I assume there was no such message. Or was there?

When you say that after the setup files have been loaded, the system goes
"back to configuration". You mean a continual reboot, yes?

Have you tried booting to that XP installation CD with one of your other
HDDs? Same problem? You never can get to that initial screen?
Anna