The Lounge - Boot Problem

I have a problem with my computer, i wanna reformat it, but the computer won't boot on CD. I have a SCSI hard drive and an IDE hard drive as well has a CD-RW and a DVD-RW. I went into the BIOS to check out the IDE devices, and the only one it shows is the IDE hard drive. Under the second IDE, it only shows auto and no CD-RW or DVD-RW drives. I've been able to reformat the machine before but for some reason it won't let me now.

Are you using XP?

I'm using 2000 and want to reformat with 2000

You know your DOS at all?

I'm pretty good with DOS. I'm assuming u think i should run DOS at startup and try to run the 2000 install from there? If so, very good idea.

ORIGINAL: AgentofDarkness

I'm pretty good with DOS. I'm assuming u think i should run DOS at startup and try to run the 2000 install from there? If so, very good idea.


Basically. But becareful, because once you use DOS to whipe the hard drives completely clean, you'll have to load the cdrom driver and edit the autoexec.bat & config.sys files. I assume you know that tho cause you said you're pretty familiar with dos, just want to cover all the bases. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. Good luck man!

Create a boot disk and have it boot from the A drive first. The boot disk will have the necessary drivers on it.

ORIGINAL: ngoti8tor

Create a boot disk and have it boot from the A drive first. The boot disk will have the necessary drivers on it.


Correct, but if you want to completely start over, the only way to go is to format the entire drive, dos and all, then start over.

Do you know where i can download a boot disk?

You're computer will make one. Look for a Recovery Wizard tool or something like that. Your computer manufactorer will also send you a driver disc. If you have a Sony, like everyone should, it has the boot stuff and drivers built into it. What kind of computer is it, for reference?

I have an HP Workstation x2100

ORIGINAL: Forty04


ORIGINAL: ngoti8tor

Create a boot disk and have it boot from the A drive first. The boot disk will have the necessary drivers on it.


Correct, but if you want to completely start over, the only way to go is to format the entire drive, dos and all, then start over.


Well, yes, that's the reason to make a boot disk, so that you can format the entire drive (you'll wipe out all the drivers), then you need the boot disk to restart the computer and the drivers on the boot disk will allow you to use the CD drive so that you can place the Win 2000 CD into it and load it onto the hard drive.

A boot disk will carry over old drivers to the freshly formatted hard drive. When i was at ITT I actually saw a couple drivers retain trojan information, rendering the reformat pointless. So basically what i was saying is that its better to just start over 100%. But its easier said than done.

He'll need to get the driver for the CDROM from someone else's computer then, in order to load the Windows 2000.

ORIGINAL: ngoti8tor

He'll need to get the driver for the CDROM from someone else's computer then, in order to load the Windows 2000.


CDROM driver comes with DOS, but you have to tweak it. He needs to download DOS if he doesnt already have it on disk.

Boot to DOS and reformat from there. Then restart, config the BIOS to boot from CD, and restart again. It should use a generic driver which will allow the computer to recognize at least some form of a CD drive. Then you will be able to install no problem. Also, make sure your jumpers are all correct so everything gets recognized. I've done all this several times before, on a 10 year old computer with Win 2K, so you should be able to do it no problem.

ORIGINAL: Kappa22

Boot to DOS and reformat from there. Then restart, config the BIOS to boot from CD, and restart again. It should use a generic driver which will allow the computer to recognize at least some form of a CD drive. Then you will be able to install no problem. Also, make sure your jumpers are all correct so everything gets recognized. I've done all this several times before, on a 10 year old computer with Win 2K, so you should be able to do it no problem.


The problem is that i can't get the BIOS to boot from the CD-Drive. I've tried this several times but can't get it to work. I don't want to format the Hard Drive through DOS because if i can't get the BIOS to boot from teh CD im stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'm thinking if i should pull the SCSI hard drive and try to boot from CD and visa versa.

Did you check your jumpers? I mean, if the drive was working before, I'd assume they're ok, but you never know...

Ill check the jumpers, but i've reformatted the IDE hard drive before. I've never tried to format the SCSI and also, i formatted the IDE hard drive (through Windows 2000). I wanna keep the IDE to store files and such and want to use teh SCSI to run the OS. The SCSI is only about 17GB and the IDE is around 120 so i wanna make the SCSI into 2 partitions. But first i have to get the damn computer to boot the CD-ROM, its really begning to annoy me. And thanx everyone for all of your suggestions, it gets me a few steps closer to the solution and keep them coming.