CD-Rom Drive Errors

I've got this old computer that I built up using junk parts left over from upgrades, and I've FINALLY managed to get the thing to actually run, but there's a problem.

I want to install Windows XP on the machine, but when I put the CD in it shows up as an audio disk. When I explore it, there's only one track "Track 01"

So, I'm at a loss. What should I do? I've tried googling, but all I can find is information about ripping audio CDs. :\

Thanks in advance.

 

try it on someone else's PC ... if you still encounter the same problem try playing it in a cd player and see what happens lol ... seems like it wasn't burnt correctly...

 

The CD works just fine. I used it to install Windows XP on the machine I'm on now. This computer simply refuses to recognize it as an installation disc.

Here's a bit of info about my computer, really fast. The computer...
- Is running Windows 98.
- HAD XP installed on it before on the HDD I'm using now on the CD-ROM it's using now.
- Is LOADED with spyware.
- Doesn't attempt to boot from CD even after setting all three parts of the boot sequence to CD-ROM.
- Cannot access the D:\ (CD-ROM) from MS-DOS even with the tested, and working, 95 disc.

I'm going to do a bit more Google hunting to see if I can find anything.

 

what speed is the cdrom drive? chance that the cdrom drive is dud...

 

Would the cd happen to be a burned copy, some cd roms have issues with burned cds.

 

Go tho the harddrive mfg's website, and download their disk utility tool. At their site, read how to make the disk on floppy, and how to use it. Then, use the disk to do a "Low Level Format (full) to the harddrive. That will wipe the entire drive clean. Then you can try to boot with the XP disk in.
I'm assuming the "file association" settings are wrong in the machine now. But in any event, I always like to start with a clean LL formatted drive.
Also, when you try to install XP, you may encounter other issues. You say the machine is "old", but didn't say how old. If the CD rom and HD are on the same channel (cable), you sometimes encounter "file copy" errors during an XP install. If THAT occurs, you'll have to disable the processor "external cache", and ECC checking in bios. On REAL old clunkers, you sometimes have to disable the CPU's INTERNAL caching as well. But doing that, makes the install take HOURS.
Good luck.

 

The machine is like 4 years old. The HD is probably twice that. I have no intenion of keeping the current hard-drive. It's just a cheap little 5 GIG dumby drive, right now. Just popped it in there to make sure the hardware in the machine was capable of doing what I wanted it to do.

So, formating it, and getting it all cleaned up isn't really important to me right now. Infact, installing XP on it isn't important to me. What IS important is making sure that everything but the hard drive is working as it should be, so when I replace it with a bigger one, I'll be able to install my operating system, drivers, etc. Otherwise, I'd be wasting money on improving a computer that doesn't work.

I managed to get the thing online, finally. So, my list of options is a bit bigger now that I can transfer files to it via network (everything had to be done by floppy before with the CD-ROM out of comission and no way to connect to the internet.) As for the manufacture's website, I can't really go there, because I can't really tell what my CD-ROM is. It's just a generic drive that came with a fairly generic machine. The CD-ROM and the HD are on the same cable, so I might have to look into that as well.

I'll see what I can find out later. I've been up all night (It's 10 AM now.) trying to get this thing working. Now, all that's left is a working CD-ROM drive.