shadowlilli,

If you are receiving the same message you are not booting from the CD. That message is generated from Windows, which is not started when booting from the CD. See the portion of this site with links to instructions to setting the CD-ROM drive as the first boot device.

The procedure for correcting the problem (short of reinstalling XP) is give here. This still requires booting from the XP CD.

Message Edited by Denny Denham on 11-29-2005 03:36 PM

Thank you Denny.  I set up the computer to boot from disc and it is still not working.  I double checked to make sure the settings were correct and they are.  I had already visited the site you posted and still cannot get the computer to boot from disc.  At this point I want to reformat and reinstall Windows and cannot find any instructions that do not start with something my computer just won't do right now.  All I can get is the black screen with errors.  Can you point me in the right direction to reinstall windows xp when my computer won't do anything?  Thanks again.

Lori

Once you set your BIOS to boot first from cd . . when it restarts you will see a black screen with a prompt "Press any key to boot from CD" . . do that and you will be able to delete partitions and recreate the ones you want and proceed to formating and installing XP

That message can pass quickly, so have a finger on the keyboard when you boot.  This will delete all data on the drive so be sure you have your important data backed up.

If you do not get that message, and you have another optical drive, try the XP CD in the other drive.

Shadowlilli,

Leave WinXP disk in CD. Change your bios settings as recommended. Turn off the computer. Unplug the power cord. Go have a nice sip of tea, coffee or Coke. Power back up. If Dell Logo is on screen, Press ESC. Watch the CD drive light. Right after POST, does its light come on, blink slow or fast? Can you here the drive spinning? Do you see the Press Any Key to Boot From CD message?  No. Then find any known bootable CD (Windows 98, Norton System Works, etc.), Insert it. Shut down. Restart. Now see if you see the Press Any Key to Boot From CD.  If you do, you probably have one of those rare (I have one), Dell Windows XP SP1 Reinstallation CDs that simply lacks a boot record. Like to went crazy with that thing. Tried different CD drives. Even different computers. All would boot Win98, Me, etc. but not the Dell XP SP1.  Finally, made an image of the fool thing, and  created a bootable reinstallation CD. 

Message Edited by tgsmith on 11-30-2005 07:28 AM

Tony,

Thanks so much for your response.  I was starting to think that I was going nuts!  The computer does not acknowledge the Windows XP disc but when I put another disc in it tries to boot from that.  Looks like I am a lucky one too. :)  Everything you said you did after that is a foreign language to me but I am willing to give it a try if you have a minute to explain what it means to make an image and create a bootable disc.  My Dell is unusable until I get this fixed but I do have a laptop I can work with.

Thanks again.

Lori

Shadowlilli,

Assuming you have a floppy disk drive and Windows XP Home Edition, click on this link:

Other links available for other versions. Must match your Windows XP Edition EXACTLY (including  those that included SP1). 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=E8FE6868-6E4F-471C-B455-BD5AFEE126D8&displaylang=en

Download and create the recovery disk set.  Insert your Windows XP CD into the CD drive, Boot from the floppy and do whatever you need to do. You can repair, reinstall (dangerous as it overwrites existing  system and data files) or create a parallel installation of Windows XP(just change default installation directory for WINDOWS  to WINNT).

Creation of the bootable copy of the installation CD is a little trickier.  I use Nero CD burning software.  Basically, you copy the entire contents of your installation CD to a folder on a hard disk. Start Nero. Select Create Bootable CD. Add ALL files WITHIN the folder you created (not the folder itself). DO NOT add the files on the floppy. All you want is the boot info. When prompted, insert Disk 1 from the set created above.  Burn the CD. Insert in your computer's CD. Restart and press any key to boot from CD when prompted. 

Try first method. If no luck.  Will give you step by step on the bootable CD if needed.

Tony

 Other links available for other versions of Windows XP.

Message Edited by tgsmith on 11-30-2005 02:10 PM

Message Edited by tgsmith on 11-30-2005 02:16 PM

Tony,

Thanks again for your response.  My notebook computer does not have a floppy drive; it has a combination cd/dvd drive.  Any other ideas?

Lori