How do I erase my PC and install a new operating system? I have the CD-Rom disk in the CD-ROm drive. I thought if I keep pressing F1, F8, or the space bar, it trips the PC to boot up form the CD Rom drive… What am I doing wrong?
- Jinx
You’ll need to access the BIOS and reset the boot sequence. Check your system info to see how to do this as it varies.
:smack:
Reboot the computer, usually there’s a screen that says “[some function key] = setup”.
Isn’t there an easier way to simply install windows? What if your machine were virus infected, and you want to reformat your hard drive and reload Windows? I don’t recall fooling with the BIOS before… I swore it was much simpler…
Also, along these lines, I swore Windows 2000 had a “start in DOS mode” option once i press F8, but I don’t see it as one of the options…
- Jinx
Now, you’e cooking with Crisco! But, see my above post. When I press F8, Windows 2000 has a “start in safe mode”, etc. But nothing that stands out as a total new reboot (wiping of the PC) and rebooting from the CD-Rom drive.
Any ideas?
- Jinx
While the system is booting, try the F2 or F12 key.
I have a Dell, and the F2 key allows to access the BIOS.
Worst case scenario will be that it won’t work.
Pushing f8 and loading the dos prompt is not good enough.
You’d still be loading the previous OS.
The previous posters were correct, you have to go into BIOS and change the booting sequence. Try hitting DEL repeatedly as soon as the comp restarts (usually delete gets you there, but that will depend on your BIOS, check your manual if the bootup screen doesn’t say what key will work).
Once you’re in the BIOS setup look around for the bootup sequence, you want to change that so that it will try to bootup from your CD rom first, then the hardrive.
Make sure you have your windows CD in the CD drive and reboot.
What they’re trying to say is this. In your BIOS settings (you know, the ones that control the configuration of the hardware - you’ll see a screen saying “press [a key] to access your bios settings” or something like that - usually the Delete or F1 key just as your comp has started to boot.) The BIOS has an option for the boot sequence - for instance, if the hard drive is first, it’ll load an OS from the hard drive even if there’s a system disk in the floppy drive or CD drive. You need to make sure it reads from the CD drive before it tries to read from the hard drive, and there should be a setting for that.
This isn’t a Windows issue. The install disk doesn’t get a chance to do its thing unless you boot with it, and to do that, it’ll have to check the CD drive before the hard drive.
After you get the CD to boot, there will an option to repartition and format the drive, completely wiping it clean.
Hi
I had a similar problem with trying to boot from a CD. My BIOS was set up to first boot floppy then CD then the rest. I thought that if there wasn’t a floppy disk in the drive it would go onto the CD but not so. To get the CD to boot I had to make CD the first boot. 