pc won't boot

my friend has reformatted her harddrive and now she cannot get the pc to boot to install windows xp. i have tried several floppies to see if it will boot and also used the xp bootable cd-rom and nothing. when it tries to find the floppy it says i/o error.
any ideas how i can get it to boot i know the boot discs work as i have tried them in other pcs.

 

If it's XP have you set the boot sequence to boot to CD first?

This article may also help you out. http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=25831

 

Yes, after the format go into cmos settings and set ur primary boot to cd. After its done then reset it back to HDD1 for example. Should work a charm

 

I'm a bit confused here I guess...If you boot to the CD rom with the XP disk in the drive you can then format and install from there. You do not switch the boot order until format and install are complete.

Did she format using the XP CD? If not...I would try to boot to the CD rom again and re-format using the XP disk...could very well be the previous attempt to format was messed up

[EDIT] didn't notice right away the reply by bailmeout was not the thread starter, thus my confusion. However...you still do not go back into BIOS to change the boot sequence until format and install are complete or the puter won't boot. [/EDIT]

 

Also be aware that your Primary Hard drive is HDD0

 

hi guys thanks for ur help. i had changed the bios settings to boot from cd but still didn't work. i changed the IDE cable and that has cured my problem thanks.