Need to get CD/Rom working to reinstall windows

Hi,

I have a PC running windows XP. Last week I fought my way thru a terrible infection with 'MalwareDoctor' and a rootkit that were preventing my windows from loading in. I managed to get my windows open using Hiren's Boot CD, then removed the 'MD' with re-animator and the rootkit with KaperskyTDSS killer. I had a few rough moments at the end when my cd/rom stopped working, but I reloaded the drivers from a similar computer I own with the same system and CD/ROM and it seemed to work. All clear.

Everything worked for a week, then yesterday, the computer started acting buggy, so I shut it down for a bit. Then it really got weird, On restart, it freezes halfway thru loading windows, but worse yet, I cannot get it to recognize the CD/Rom again to boot from it.

All I want to do is re-install windows. It's not the first time, I'm resigned to it and had already retrieved anything of value from the C drive. Does anyone have any advice on how to get my system to read the CD/ROM again?

PS, I do not have a floppy disk, as the idiot who built this for me neglected to add one, although I am game to remove one from one of my junkers and install it if there is no other recourse....On the other hand, I have a removable hard drive and can load things on to that...

Thank you in advance for your help. J

 

You should still be able to boot off of the cdrom to reinstall Windows. So put your Windows disk in the cd-rom, restart, and install away.

 

You may need to change the boot order in the Bios... (f12 usually gives you a quick option to change order).

iain.t :major

 

I've tried both things. The bios is set to booting from CD first but even when I try using easy boot and selecting the cd, it will not recognize the cd drive and will go into windows from the hard disk. However, when I can get windows open (it has booted up irregularly once or twice and I've been tinkering with diagnostics, etc) it recognizes the CD player and will play things from it.

Maybe the CD problem might be due to it's age (it was recycled from an older machine) so I guess I'll try replacing it at some point.

Thanks for your answers and time!