XP boot problems

[worldchamp]

This morning, my wifes computer (I do not let anyone use my computer) at
the start up will not go beyond the welcome screen, it will proceed to a
log off screen then reverts back to the welcome screen, I click on her
name to boot it and it loops back around to the closing screen then
loops back again to the start screen etc., etc. I am unable to boot
into Safe Mode or do a system repair. The CD spins however it is not
being read. I am trying to re-install Windows, I can't get it going. If
I have to I will re-format the hard drive. I just don't know how I will
accomplish it. Any help or thoughts. Joe (e-mail address removed)

 

[Ron Badour]

You need to go into the BIOS (startup--watch the boot screen and click the
key indicated) and under Boot Devices (or a similar name, BIOS are different
from one another), make the CDRom drive the first boot device, save the
settings and exit the BIOS. Navigation instructions and how to change
settings are included in the BIOS. Now when you boot with the system disk,
it should be read. Once this occurs, you can try to do a system repair or
you can format the drive and install clean (look at the screen prompts). If
you format, anything she has on her drive will be lost if it is not backed
up. If that is not a concern, press on. If she has stuff on the drive that
needs to be retrieved, you could hook her hard drive up as a slave in your
PC and copy the needed data to your hard drive.
--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience