Loading Win xp problem

[williamsan]

Can someone please tell me what may be the problem with the following, I am trying to load winxp, on a pc, I put the boot disk in the a drive and boot from the floppy, then I typed smartdv , and then I try to change to the directory with the winxp cd by typing (cd d:\) but it will only change to the directory only for a brief moment then it defaults back to a:\.  So I am unable to run the file i386 on the cd drive.   Is there something wrong with the cd drive??  I have tried typing cd d:\, e:\, f:\, etc...nothing works, it keeps defaulting to the a:\.   PLEASE HELP, THIS SEEMS SO SIMPLE.  THANKS :-? :-?

[dl65]

 williamsan...... Why dont you simply put the bootable XP cd in the cd-rom and then reboot ....... XP will the rest ........be sure and select the NTFS .....

dl65  

[williamsan]

I tried that and that did not work, I think.  But what do you mean the NTFS, forgive my ignorance, I have not done this in a long time.

I put the xp CD in the drive and rebooted, and the computer comes up with the error, "can't find system disk"  black screen.  I forget the exact error, but something like. that.  So what do you think? :-?

Where as if I boot with the floppy it comes up and gives me the option to select boot with cd support, etc.....that is when I can't switch the directory.

Thanks,
Angela

[dl65]

 williamsan.... Sorry about all the questions ....... but it sounds like you do not have a bootable cd ......... Are you sure its an original win XP cd or a copy ?

Have you managed to format your drive by using the boot disk ?

dl65  

[williamsan]

It is a copy of winxp, I have used it before on another pc I have and I was able to load it from the cd I beleive.

I have not formated any drives using the cd??