cd boot prob.

[1mgo]

my comp. is a 900Mhz 60 gb HD 256MB RAM I'm having prob. retriving more info but here is some more maxtor 4k060h3, mibios megatrends that is what I could get off the start up screen is there a way to slow or pause the screen to get more info? any ways my prob. is I want to do a clean install of XP but I can't get the comp. to boot from cdrom it always jumps to the xp system that is already loaded.
the steps that I take are
1-load xp instal boot disk(it boots up on other comp's)
2-start comp.
3-it always goes to the xp operating system welome screen
I checked the BIOS settings and they are
primary master:user
primary slave:cdrom
secondary master:cdrom
secondary slave:cdrom
floppy drive A; 1.44MB31/2
also this
Quick boot: enabled
1st boot devise:floppy
2nd boot devise:cdrom
3rd boot devise:cdrom
try other boot devises:yes
does this make any sense I will try and get more info if I can but as of right now I don't know what else to try
thank in advance for any help
1mgo 8-)

[linuxlover]

Try putting the CD-ROM drive as primary. It shouldn't matter though. I'm out of ideas. I boot from my CD-ROM all the time with no problem. And my PC has LOTS of problems.

[patio]

Ignore the post above...

Enter the BIOS at boot and set the first boot device to CDRom.

[GX1_Man]

Try putting the CD-ROM drive as primary. It shouldn't matter though. I'm out of ideas. I boot from my CD-ROM all the time with no problem. And my PC has LOTS of problems.

Probably not just the PC.

[linuxlover]

Try putting the CD-ROM drive as primary. It shouldn't matter though. I'm out of ideas. I boot from my CD-ROM all the time with no problem. And my PC has LOTS of problems.

Sorry about that I meant to put it as first boot. My bad.

[1mgo]

thanks for the replys I have tried to put the cdrom as 1st boot devise and when I do I get this
"boot failure reboot and select proper boot devise or install boot media in selected boot device press any key when ready"preeceding that it says that cdrom couldn't be found but in my comp. it shows up and device manager it shows all the rom drives I know that the xp cd is bootable because it will work in other comp. and the cdrom's work on the comp. that I'm trying to do a install on for some reason they arn't reconized for bootup any ideas as why?
thanks
1mgo

[GX1_Man]

The electronics of a CDROM usually go long before the mechanical parts. The tray will still open and close, the light comes on, etc. but it will never work. Given the age of your processor and system, if this is the original drive it probably is time to put in a new one. They are really inexpensive - a DVD burner (which would be overkill, but usable as a CD/CDRW/DVD player is only $32 delivered!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151136

You can try the drive in another machine to test it, but I believe it has given up the ghost.

[Raptor]

You can press the pause button to pause the boot sequence. If you want to pause/unpause, rapidly press a random button and the pause button.. With a little experimenting, you'll get it right. Works on any PC I've worked on, but may only be usable on a PS/2 keyboard..