Windows XP Will Not Boot from HD nor CD

[rawmatrix]

Hi

This is my first post here seeing that it seems everyone here is so helpful. I hope you guys can help me. I have a Dell Dimension E510 and am having problems booting. It all started yesterday when I was going to uninstall my printer driver and it asked me to restart so I did. From that point on when I boot up my computer I see the Dell logo than it goes just a blank screen. Ive been researching and tried to use my Windows CD to get into the recovery console and no luck. All I see is the "Press any key to boot" and I press a key and also have left it for it to auto boot but nothing. I set my BIOS to boot first from the CD but still nothing. I have also tried setting the BIOS to it's defaults. I had a copy of ubuntu live CD and it boots up fine. I then suspected that the Windows CD might be faulty so I tried it on another computer and it works fine. What can I do? Even if I want to re-install WIndows I can't becuase it won't boot up.

Thanks for taking your time to help me

 

[kimsland]

Although the Linux disk works, and
The Windows disc works in another computer

I would seem that your CD/DVD drive is not in good shape.

Can you remove the drive from the other computer and place it into yours.

Or, are you able to purchase another DVD drive

Basically it is not reading all discs

 

[rawmatrix]

I tried what you said exchanging another IDE DVD drive with mine, but still no luck. I get the "Press any key to boot from CD" and after that it's just a blank screen.

 

[kimsland]

XP (or Restore) CD does work. But then you receive a blank screen.

It must be the HardDrive
Does BIOS actually see the HardDrive ?

If not, you will need to check the cables (connected on IDE 0 on M/b ) and drive is configured properly (Master or Cable Select)

If the bios does see the HardDrive in bios, then is it possible this HardDrive is dead ?

Ubuntu does not need a HardDrive to start, so this can be the case.

My feelings HardDrive issue

 

[hulent]

I fixed my problem...

I have a feeling it is hard drive related also. I was fixing this same issue for my aunt and uncle's computer. After the new hard drive was installed, I was getting the blank screen after the POST and BIOS process. What would happen was I would start the machine with the XP cd in the CD-ROM drive. After setting my BIOS correctly, it still wouldn't read. Here is what I suggest to check the CD\DVD-ROM drive:

Try Setting the BIOS first

1. Set the Boot Order: Onboard or USB CD-ROM as first and Internal SATA (or IDE) Hard Drive as second
2. Make Sure that the CD-ROMs are recognized in the "Disk Drives"
3. Now reboot and see if the disk is recognized

If you have 2 CD or DVD-ROM Drives

1. Set the top one as master
2. Set the bottom one as slave
3. Put the OS disc in the top CD-ROM drive and reboot

Lastly...(This is what fixed me, that's why it's last)

1. Take the power out of the top CD or DVD-ROM Drive
2. Take the IDE cable out of the top drive
3. Set the jumper on the bottom drive as "Cable Select" (it says CS on the Drive)
4. Put the end of the IDE cable in the bottom drive
5. GIVE IT A SHOT!

That leads me to believe that the top DVD-ROM drive in their computer is bad. If that doesn't work, I will need some info on what to do next. I hope I didn't walk all over the other posts but, I just solved this and those are the steps I took.

 

[kimsland]

I hope I didn't walk all over the other posts.

You've got to joking, it's perfect !

Keep posting on anyone's thread with your support. (and well typed posts)

 

[hulent]

Thanks for the nice reply. I'll try to post more like this

 

[cre8iveken]

rawmatrix,

Did any of these solutions work out for you? I'm having the same problem. When I run the XP installation disc it gets as far as "Press any key to boot from cd". I hit a key and it says it's checking the hardware configuration and then it hangs on a black screen. The disc works fine in other systems. The drive works fine for other discs. How did you end up solving it?

 

[kimsland]

Other than trying all hulent's suggestions, you may have faulty ram or harddrive.

To eliminate one of them, could you do a full long test with Memtest
And report back any errors found.