Help!

KlinkB · Nov 3, 2009

I have my friends Acer 5004 laptop that I'm trying to format and reinstall XP on. It will not boot to the CD. When I go into the OS and select the CD rom its not reading the disk. I have 2 different CD's and they both are real copies. I can put a regular audio CD in and it reads fine. If you guys have any suggestions I'd really appreciate it. I want to get this done asap..

Thanks in advance!

I.M.O.G. · Nov 3, 2009

Do you have any other bootable media to test with?

I'm assuming you made the CD drive first in the boot order.

KlinkB · Nov 4, 2009

yea its first in the order.. i dont know if acer has it blocked some how or what.. i dont have any other cds that are bootable.. it doesnt even say "press any key to boot from cd" which is weird.. im thinking its either the dvd rom or acer software? im leaning towards the dvd rom.. i might get an adapter to use a different cd rom.. i dont want to but it might come down to that i think

Tyranos · Nov 4, 2009

Don't have a burner? Could burn something bootable, like memtest, and try it out.

KlinkB · Nov 4, 2009

i could try a different type of boot cd.. if i decide to try and use an external cdrom drive, does anyone know if it will pick it up? the bios on this thing is pretty limited as to what can be done..

jmdixon85 · Nov 4, 2009

All depends on the BIOS, A lot of older BIOS's don't support booting from USB. If you start the laptop up with a USB drive plugged in, it could appear in the BOOT priority menu in the BIOS or if the laptop has a Boot menu (normally pressing F8 or F12 while POSTING) it should be displayed their if the laptop supports booting from USB.

KlinkB · Nov 4, 2009

jmdixon85 said:
All depends on the BIOS, A lot of older BIOS's don't support booting from USB. If you start the laptop up with a USB drive plugged in, it could appear in the BOOT priority menu in the BIOS or if the laptop has a Boot menu (normally pressing F8 or F12 while POSTING) it should be displayed their if the laptop supports booting from USB.

when its booting ill press f12 and it shows all the devices.. if i select cdrom it keeps booting.. i had a flash drive in but it doesnt see that at all

jmdixon85 · Nov 4, 2009

Sorry but it seems that the laptop does not support booting from USB devices

Have you tried booting from another disc? I.e If you have a Win98 disk you could boot in the DOS prompt with CD-ROM support and maybe run the WinXP setup from their.

KlinkB · Nov 4, 2009

jmdixon85 said:
Sorry but it seems that the laptop does not support booting from USB devices

Have you tried booting from another disc? I.e If you have a Win98 disk you could boot in the DOS prompt with CD-ROM support and maybe run the WinXP setup from their.

i dont have any other os discs unfortunately.. im asking my friend to see if he has the recovery discs.. if not im not sure what else there is to do.. i dont think it will allow me to boot to an external disc drive.. this laptop makes me want to :bang head

jmdixon85 · Nov 4, 2009

If you PM me your email address I will send you a bootable iso ready to be burned to disk. Its only about 3MB and has CD support.

jmdixon85 · Nov 4, 2009

Email sent. Once you have booted with CD-ROM support, type "x:" (change x to the letter assigned to your CD drive) press enter. then type "x:\i386\winnt.exe"

Hopefully WinXP setup will start.

You could always type "x:" (press enter) then type "dir" just to see if the drive can actually read the disk ok.

KlinkB · Nov 4, 2009

jmdixon85 said:
Email sent. Once you have booted with CD-ROM support, type "x:" (change x to the letter assigned to your CD drive) press enter. then type "x:\i386\winnt.exe"

Hopefully WinXP setup will start.

You could always type "x:" (press enter) then type "dir" just to see if the drive can actually read the disk ok.

thank you! i got an acer back up disk from him but i dont think thats the proper disc.. im at work right now so i havent had a chance to look at it yet.. if that doesnt work ill try that iso :beer:

jmdixon85 · Nov 4, 2009

Ok, let us know how you get on. good luck!

KlinkB · Nov 4, 2009

well it booted to the back up cd............ lol that makes me so mad.. so it looks like a ghost image.. we'll see how it goes!

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