Surplus Dell won't load XP Pro

Hi,
I just bought a P3 Dell Optiplex GX150. Don't crucify me. It was a surplus where I work $160.00. It came with 1 gig processor, 256 mb ram(PC133), 20 gig HD.
The hard drive has been wiped clean. I can't get it to load XP Pro. Plug everything in, insert CD, hear it spin. The screen just stays at a "C" prompt. Went to the BIOS and reconfigured it so the CD drive would boot first. Saved changes, the re-booted. The "C" prompt is as far as it gets. I tried the "runwin" command with no success.
Any ideas??

Thanks Doug

 

I have a question. Are you using a full-blown XP Pro disk?

 

yes.

 

Should I try to boot from floppy? I think I can get a Win 98 boot disk.

I was looking here:
http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/fdisk/fdisk1.htm

 

i'm curious why you're getting a C prompt to begin with. if the hard drive was truely wiped clean, there is no C prompt. somehow you are getting into a DOS prompt.

do you know who makes the hard drive? if it is a big name brand, you might be able to download a hard drive configuration tool that is bootable--so you can partition and format the drive propery first.

Western Digital, Seagate, and Maxtor all have these kinds of tools... i am sure others do too.

 

I tend to agree with the previous post. Take the "Do it yourself" approach. That way you know what has been done to the hard drive. Since you bought it through your company, you have no idea what steps were taken.

You at least need to do the following.

1. Open the computer up, remove the hard drive, and identify the manufacturer. Alternatively, ask your company's IT department.

2. Download the appropriate manufacturer disk utilities/diagnostics.

3. Wipe the hard drive clean.

4. Prepare the hard drive for first time use. If you don't know how to do this, ask.

5. Attemp to install XP Pro from the CD. The setup process will assist you in creating the installation location (C:\WINXP or something like it.)

 

Let me back up and get my story straight.
When I bought it, they said the HD was erased. When I turn it on, it'll flash the Win 98 blue log on screen for a split second, then it goes to what I call a DOS black screen with the "C" prompt. Above the "C" prompt it does say Microsoft(R) Windows 98 Copywright Microsoft Corp 1981-1999.

Should I try to figure out how to FDISK??

Doug

 

There is another consideration.

1. Are you attempting to execute the setup program from the C:\ prompt? Your CD-Rom will have a different drive letter assigned -- most likely D:\.

2. During the POST process ( when you turn the computer on) are you asked if you would like to boot from CD? If so, press Enter.

 

Others may have different opinions, I still think you should wipe the HD completely and start fresh. My suggestion calls for a low-level format that writes zeroes back to the HD. Western Digital has a tool for this.

FDISK -- You have the time -- go for it. Read up on the tool first. It will serve your needs.

 

I went through and did everything stated on http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/fdisk/fdisk1.htm
The only difference is that I only had a Win 98 floppy boot disk not Win ME as stated on the web page.
A few things happened. After I did the last restart I left the floppy in and it went to a "A" prompt- not sure what to do then. If I restart without the floppy it goes to a black screen which says "missing operating system"

Doug

 

FDisk is'nt very complicated.
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/tips/msdos/fdisk.htm
But what is simpler, is do what was suggested already.
Identify the HDD manufacture, then download free utility from HDD Manufacture.

I wounder, do you have in bios boot order CD first than HDD?
Then have you tryed to boot to the windows CD & begin windows setup?
As far as I know all XP cd's are bootable & can use to format ya HDD

Have a Look here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316941
Here too:
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=25831

 

Basic DOS commands are,

fdisk is to create or delete a partition.

format c: (or whatever the drive is labelled) will allow you to format.

dir Lists all files and directories in the directory that you are currently in.

**If you had the Bios set to boot from CD and had the XP CD inserted, you should have been able to achieve all the above unless a previous boot sector existed and/or you booted from hard drive.

 

Rooster,

The website you went to for information on FDISK is good. However, I want to go back to a question I presented earlier and clarify.

Are you the proud owner of a "Retail" version of Windows XP Pro? If you're not using a retail copy, we need to know.

If your answer is yes, the next question echoes earlier statements. Is your CD-ROM listed as the first boot device in the BIOS?

If your answer is yes, then you should be able to boot from the Windows XP Pro CD and perform the setup.

 

Rooster,

I apologize for not coming to this realization sooner. I guess I had to get drunk first. Your main goal is installing Windows XP Pro. You can obtain an executable to create the boot disks from Microsoft.

It occured to me your computer may not support booting from the CD-Rom drive.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994

How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks
Microsoft Windows XP Setup boot disks are available only by download from Microsoft. The Setup boot disks are available so that you can run the Setup program on computers that cannot use a bootable CD-ROM.

 

It's a copy.
BIOS is set to boot from CD ROM first. I tried the 6 executable boot disks and an error ocurred on disk 2. I'm try that again.

 

......

 

Rooster,

You need to consider the source of your copy of WinXP Pro. How did you acquire it? No need to answer. The point is you may not have all the files you need. Plus, I don't know how the licensing key works on WinXP Pro. With the new office software, you have to contact microsoft for a key.

Good Luck