Problems reinstalling Vista - please help

I've been trying to do a clean install of my Vista 64, but I am having problems. At boot up, I press "Boot from CD" with the Vista DVD in the drive, but all it does it boot up into normal operation. And I can't get it to go into set up mode. Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thank you.



AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00 GHZ
2 GB RAM
Vista 32 bit (currently installed)

 

So, when it says "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD" you press any key and it acts like nothing happened? Like you never pressed any keys? If you're using a USB keyboard and you don't have USB keyboard support enabled in the BIOS, it could be the keyboard won't work until Windows loads up. I've seen USB keyboard work OK to enter and make changes to the BIOS, but if USB keyboard support was disabled, as soon as you get past the BIOS/POST screen, the keyboard would stop responding until the login screen/desktop loaded up.... so, try a PS2 keyboard if you're using a USB keyboard. If you are using a PS2 keyboard, then I'm a bit mystified :confused Double check and be sure the CD/DVD drive is the first boot device, and make the Vista disc is totally clean. If you have a different bootable CD, try it and see if it boots OK; maybe the CD/DVD drive is on it's way out. If you have a 2nd CD/DVD drive, try booting from it instead of the drive you have been using....

Keep us posted!

 

you could also try.

with the PC running insert the disk and give it a minute to access the system and click "start/computer, you should see the disk in one of your drives right click and in the menu click open, it should take you to the options for the disk.

or as you are using Vista just type in your search bar "system recovery" and follow the steps, it will ask you to insert the disk

 

dlb,
I'm using a wireless keyboard with a USB receiver - would that be the same as a regular USB keyboard? Like you said, I had no problems getting into my BIOS and changing the boot-up priority sequence to let my PC boot from the disc, but there was no response afterward. Where would I go in the BIOS to enable USB keyboard?? Regardless, I'll take your advice and try using a plain old PS2 keyboard. Hopefully, that'll work. Thanks again for your advice.

 

BILLMCC66,
If the PS2 keyboard doesn't work, I will try your suggestion. Thank you very much!

 

dlb,

It was the keyboard like you said. I tried my PS2 keyboard and it worked as it should. Thanks again for your advice