can't boot XP from cd...

please be patient with me....i'm trying to help a buddy on another coast get his computer working ....

he's got a used dell computer with 2000 pro on it (optiplex GX 150?). he went to target and bought XP home. tried to upgrade, however, gotta have xp pro to upgrade from 2000.

went into the bios...set the boot seq. to boot from "IDE CD-ROM Device"
only other options are "Diskette Drive" and "Hard-Disk Drive C:"

saved changes and exited.....when the computer trys to restart, it says "strike F1 to reboot" or "strike F2 for set up utility"

striking F1 just puts me back at the same message....

i appreciate any help....

 

Can he boot to the hard drive? Also, exactly what model does he have. I know you put down (optiplex GX 150?) but, it looks like you are unsure. Why do I ask? We want to know exactly if xp will be worth putting on this computer.

 

Check CD drive if your computer did not see it in Bios, there for You can not set boot from CD.

 

yes...no problem booting to the hard drive...2000 starts and runs well. full gaming and internet capabilites.

he's trying wipe 2000 off the computer and put on a fresh XP install. I've been attempting to have him boot off the CD so we can delete the partition that has 2000 and only have XP on the hard drive.

he can't tell me which model it is....

it has a pentium 3 @ 933mhz.... older SD ram (pc 133 i think) @ 384mhz and a decent Geforce 2 video card. it runs Wolfenstien and Medal of honor pretty well.

i think it's worth saving....what do you think???

Thanks for your input !

 

You OCed that computer, You should load bios to DF then install winXP after install winXP and setup all drivers you need. Restart then OC it again.

 

A.Son...

when the XP CD is put in the CD tray, it auto-runs and prompts to install XP..when clicked, it errors and notifies that 2000 cannot be upgraded to XP home. is this evidence enough that the computer recognizes the CD Rom and it is functioning properly?

in the BIOS, in boot sequence, it shows only 3 items...
1. IDE CD-Rom
2. Diskette Drive
3. Hard Drive Disk C:

there are 2 CD-ROM drives installed on the computer that both function properly....should the BIOS show both?

Thanks !

 

just to clarify...'cause i'm just learnin...

i "over-clocked" it and i should reset the BIOS to "default"?

 

Yeah, that's right. would I ask you a question ? when You install, it recommand You upgarde or install full? you should read file readme.txt for more information. I recommand you should install new it 's bester.

 

I'm not aware of any Dell models that can be overclocked by the casual user. P3s came in 933Mhz flavors-- that's no indication of overclocking. I'm thinking he meant 384 MB of RAM.

 

Thank, that's great attention, I am a computer trader in my country, I have not been seeing any Dell' bios can be OCed .

 

Have him, download this: http://1gighost.net/randyboy/boot98se.exe
Then run the program with a floppy in the "A" drive.

Next run FDISK
When it asks if you wish to enable large disk support hit Y (for yes)
Select 3 for Delete partion or Logical dos drive
Select 4 for non-dos partition
type in the number/letter where the non-dos partion is (might be labeled NTFS)
Enter in the volume label (if it has one)
Press Y to confirm deletion.


hit esc, esc, esc, until it says you need to reboot for setting to be in affect. NOW, you are wiped your drive. Your computer now should be able to install XP.

Also, if I remember right, 2000 can't be upgraded to XP Home, but it can be upgraded to xp pro.

All of this is from memory, but I just now found a help link for FDISK....

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mrscary/fdisk.htm

 

If it is not too late, can he take XP Home back to where he bought it from and swop/upgrade to XP Pro. He might be able to get out of it for NIL $$$$, or small $$$ outlay. Bazza