XP wont boot, driver corrupted (Help!)

[cme222]

Having installed C&C generals I got blue screen "IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO", then when rebooted bleeps said graphics card error. Bought new graphics card and motherboard (Biostar NF4UL-A9).. Computer booted but got message eroor loading OS. The system will not boot from a windows CD, so to format the hdd it was recommended I use a win 98se custom boot disk.
Having tried that, I now get the screen:

Verifying DMI pool data.........
Starting windows 98...

The following file is missing or corrupted: HIMEM.SYS
There is an error in your CONFIG.SYS file on line 1

The screen the switches to:

DR-ROM Device Driver for IDE (Four Channels Supported)
(C) copyright Oak Technology Inc. 1993-1996
Driver Version : V340
Device Name : BANANA

Does this mean that the driver for my CDRW is corrupted. Since it will not bring up the a: promt i cannot format the hdd or run fdisk. The promt comes up however with a boot disk created by windows XP, but obviously this does not have fdisk on.

Plkease can someone help me as I am not used to working outside of windows and am completely stumped.

 

[Rik]

I assume you are booting from a 98 floppy disk.

"The following file is missing or corrupted: HIMEM.SYS
There is an error in your CONFIG.SYS file on line 1"

That means that the disk has no path to himem.sys and therefore cannot load the cd driver into upper memmory. If you can get to command prompt then u need to type edit config.sys, in the edit box put rem , thats rem[space], at the start of line 1 and save it and see if that works.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Or get the program that makes a proper W98SE bootfloppy from www.bootdisk.com

Did you change the boot-sequence in your new BIOS?
1)floppy
2)CD-rom
3)harddisk
When you then boot with the XP-CD in, you'll get a notice: Press any key to boot from CD (or similar), you have only a few seconds to hit any key to boot from that CD.

If you miss it, try again.
The XP-CD will let you fdisk/format etc.

 

[cme222]

I have set the boot sequence, and pressed to boot from CD, and it says booting from CD... and freezes, i assume bacuse it cant loaad the Cd driver, but also it wont bring up a command promt with just a normal boot disk

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Looks like you have corrupt/dirty/scratched/non-legal CD.
Try cleaning it with a lintfree cloth, remove fingerprints and grease etc.
If scratched, try using Brasso copperpolish or carpolish, making the cleaning movements in a circular way! Don't press too hard! Rinse with water and dry with lintfree cloth.

 

[poertner_1274]

I've also heard that toothpaste will work to fix scratches. I have not tried this, but have heard success stories from others.

But it is overly critical that you clean in the circular motion, not outward from the center!!

BTW
:wave:Welcome to TechSpot:wave:

 

[cme222]

So it is definately the CD? Surely if it dosent have to load windows there is no need for NTLDR, and it could stop moaning at me?

 

[RealBlackStuff]

When the very first ever installation of XP on a PC begins, and a partition for install has been selected and (is) formatted, a number of files are immediately copied onto that harddisk, incl. NTLDR. Then XP mumbles on with other stuff until it starts asking for other things. If the installation gets interrupted, upon re-trying to re-install, it looks for those files, because there is a control file on that PC already, telling XP how far it got the last time. Any errors will now show up, if the PC tries to boot from harddisk instead of from the CD.
You are still not booting from CD, please pay attention to the advise you got sofar!

 

[cme222]

I was bootoing from CD, it was jsut that the CD was dodgy (looked fine to me though)
anyway the new problem is that the screen just goes black as soon as windows starts to install. This is also what happens when i put in a hdd with a working version of windows on, on first loading screen it just switches off.
Anyone had this problem before?
and whats the big deal about starting a new thread?