Reformatting

[Phantom]

Ok i am trying to reformat my computer like i do every now and then, for performance reasons. But for some reason this time i am having serious problems. I try booting from my XP cd but it just loads windows from my harddrive, yes i put the cd drive as the #1 priority on the boot list. i've tried reformatting through command prompt, and keep getting errors there. Does anybody have any suggestions on what to do?? At this point i won't have a chance to do it until i get home on sunday most likely so you have plenty of time. If i haven't figured this out by mid-week then i'll just put my harddrive into my brothers computer and reformat it there.

[Mateo]

Originally Posted by Phantom

Ok i am trying to reformat my computer like i do every now and then, for performance reasons. But for some reason this time i am having serious problems. I try booting from my XP cd but it just loads windows from my harddrive, yes i put the cd drive as the #1 priority on the boot list. i've tried reformatting through command prompt, and keep getting errors there. Does anybody have any suggestions on what to do?? At this point i won't have a chance to do it until i get home on sunday most likely so you have plenty of time. If i haven't figured this out by mid-week then i'll just put my harddrive into my brothers computer and reformat it there.

You know what I do at times like these? Knoppix or Ulitmate Boot Disk. Use cfdisk to reformat.

[Scooper]

This may sound simple but...
When you're booting from the CD you have to hit any key at the 'boot from CD' part of your POST. Didja do that?
If so.... hmmmmm

Next; make sure your optical drive is getting good power and data connections and that Windows is seeing it properly. Disconnect and reconnect the cables and look for anything loose or corroded. Then try again to boot from CD.

If by any chance it's a BIOS thing then you can try setting all BIOs settings to default.
More likely to be a connection, in my experience.
(I've had that very problem recently)

Edit: You can also consider the manufacturer's software.
Maxtor has "MaxBlast" for example.

[Phantom]

yes i hit "any key" and it just loads windows from my harddrive. and i've done everything imaginable with the bios

[Scooper]

Will it boot from a floppy?

The only time I've had that happen it was the connection to the CD/DVD drive.
Personally my next thought would be along the lines of "hiding" Windows. Maybe boot from a floppy into DOS and rename the Windows folder. Anything to hide the OS from the boot seek.
Or set the drive as a slave with another drive as primary master.

You could also try to set the other boot options in BIOS to NONE rather than just change the order.

If you can completely disconnect the HD and the pc still won't boot from the CD then I would think (again) of CD/DVD connections and/or a borked Windows disk.

[=DdogG=]

just delete the boot.ini and ntdetect.com files.