The OS will be Windows XPHome Edition. The old HD is available but not installed and since the sound card, graphics card and CD-ROM drive have been upgraded, and a DVD-ROM has been added, using the old hard drive would be more work than it's worth. But if I can boot just to the a: drive with generic CD-ROM support, then I bypass all the problems I would have with the old hd and be able to format and partition the 200 GB HD with the disk that came with it.
2007-07-17 07:00:40 · 3 answers · asked by arulane 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
The OS will be Windows XPHome Edition. The old HD is available but not installed and since the sound card, graphics card and CD-ROM drive have been upgraded, and a DVD-ROM has been added, using the old hard drive would be more work than it's worth. But if I can boot just to the a: drive with generic CD-ROM support, then I bypass all the problems I would have with the old hd and be able to format and partition the 200 GB HD with the disk that came with it. *added detail* I should have mentioned that this is an old motherboard, and so without the harddrive with windows XP installed, starting it up showed that the CD drive was not operational without some help... hence the original question.
2007-07-17 09:34:10 · update #1
If you have a OEM Win XP CD you do not need a Bootdisk. The CD will recognize automatically when the machine starts up and then you can partition your HD during setup. The only thing you need to do is ensure that your Bios has the CD set as the 1st boot so it will be recognized 1st and go into the setup. You can do this by hitting the delete key during the Bios initialization at the beginning of your machine and you should be able to check that out.
2007-07-17 07:11:25 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You could boot from an old Windows 98 installation disk (3 1/2 floppy) but surely all you need to do is put the new hard-drive in and boot from the Windows XP disk?
If I understand your question correctly, you are saying that you don't think the CD will play because the DVD_ROM drive has not been installed. But it should all work automatically.
The Windows XP disk should instantly install all the required drivers (at least generic drivers) including the one for the DVD drive.
2007-07-17 07:13:52 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your computer should be able to boot directly from the CD drive. Turn on the computer, open the CD drive, put in the XP CD, and then reboot the computer.
It should boot directly from the XP CD, start the Windows install, offer to format the new hd for you, and then install XP from there. You should not need to boot from a floppy to start the CD drive.
2007-07-17 07:06:26 · answer #3 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋