I'm at a loss (Troubleshooting help needed)

[mmorin1]

I've been working on my aunt's computer for a while now, and everything seemed alright. Her comp is old, a p2 454 mHz with 256 RAM, but it suits her fine. Anyway, I got her a nice virus software and everything, SP2, and what not, but when it came time to restart the comp to finish installation, it said it could download an update for windows. Ok, why not? Well, since doing so, her comp boots up, but only the wallpaper. No task bar, no icons, nothing. None of the cd rom drives respond, it says "explore.exe cannot be found" under task manager, and since it is running AMI bios, I can't get it to cooperate with a boot disk at all. Changed the boot order, and still nothing. What can I do to possibly fix this?

And before I have anybody suggest it, neither I nor she has the money to buy a new computer. We already thought of that option and it just isn't doable.

[Dias de verano]

I don't see what the AMI bios has got to do with it not booting off a CD

Have you done this?

[mmorin1]

Yes. I've changed the boot order and it still never boots from a reinstall CD. That's what perplexes me so much.

[Dias de verano]

Is the install CD a genuine Microsoft one or a burned one?

[mmorin1]

It is a genuine Microsoft reinstallation disk.

[Dias de verano]

Are you watching the screen at boot time? Some bootable CD's such as the Microsoft Windows XP CD will actually prompt a user to press a key to boot from the CD. If no key is pressed then the computer will continue to boot normally and not load the CD. Make sure to pay close attention to the screen as the computer is starting and press a key if prompted.

This and other issues are actually spelled out elsewhere on this website so i suggest you consider them next.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000217.htm