Member Avatar for Ekion

ok heres my problem i have xp sp2 installed on my comp right now my windows xp cd is service pack1 so when i try to run the setup straight from windows says i have a older version of windows setup cannot continue, ok so i restart change my bios to make cd drive boot first and hd boot 2nd, computer wont boot from cd goes straight to harddrive so i figure ill get a old win98 boot floppy and start the setup from there, still wont work cannot run setup.exe in dos mode, so i figure ill just format c and then try to run straight from the cd again like maybe the windows is overideing it cuz its a older version, so i type my format c: i get a a error system did not find a fat32 partition on your drive but when i go into my partitions i see that there is 1 partition useing 100% of my hard drive it wont let me format c: at all and wont load the cd from the cd drive anyone know why or how i can fix this? please it would be great help

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by BinaryMayhem

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Two separate problems need to be solved: the machine won’t actually boot the installer disc, and the Win98-style floppy route can’t touch an NTFS partition. Running the older XP setup from inside a newer-SP install will be blocked, so you must get a bootable environment (CD, USB or PE disc) that can see the drive before any reinstall or format.

Troubleshooting to force a CD boot (quick checklist)

  • Confirm the BIOS/POST detects the optical drive (if it isn’t listed, the BIOS won’t try to boot it).
  • Make the optical device the first boot entry and be sure to save/exit the BIOS. Use the one‑time boot menu (F12/F11/Esc on many boards) to try the CD directly.
  • If the drive never shows up or the setting won’t stick, check power/data cables and jumper/cable positions on older PATA hardware (move the CD to the primary IDE channel or swap cables with the HDD). Disconnect any second optical drive while testing.
  • Verify the disc itself is bootable by trying it in another PC (if it boots there, the problem is your drive/BIOS). As a diagnostic, temporarily disconnect the hard disk — a bootable CD should start when no HDD is present.

If you can boot but still can’t format

  • A Win9x boot floppy won’t see or write NTFS. Use a bootable NTFS-aware environment instead (Windows PE, a rescue/utility LiveCD, or a partition tool) to copy data off, delete the partition and recreate/format it.
  • If the installer is older than the installed SP, either boot the installer for a clean setup or build updated install media (integrate the service pack) so you aren’t blocked by version checks. Back up important files first.

Notes on earlier replies: ’s boot‑floppy idea is valid if the floppy actually loads the CD driver; ’s master/jumper suggestion is worth checking on PATA systems; was correct that DOS floppies don’t handle NTFS. Follow the BIOS + media checks first — they’ll quickly show whether the fault is the CD, the drive, or BIOS configuration.

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Member Avatar for pcpalct

Okay - First part of this will sort out what I think you're trying to say:

Service Pack 2 XP machine that you tried to reinstall XP on - but you have an SP1 XP CD so that won't work. Tried to do via other means and not working.

Gotcha. First thing you'll need is to check BIOS and ensure the boot order is right - common mistake to assume that just having the CD in there will cause the 'override'. I can only guess that you may have tried this so I'll move on to the next point.

If the above did not work and you are stuck with an otherwise blank drive, hunt www.bootdisk.com for a Windows ME bootdisk. Start the computer with CD-ROM support. Once you know the drive letter (I will use X: in this demo), you will need to run the command:

X:\i386\winnt.exe

Of course there is the issue with SMARTDRV and how this method will take longer if SMARTDRV is not loaded - but if you have an issue with making the device primary, this is the only viable solution. You can always search for a copy of the file SMARTDRV.exe and copy it to the boot floppy you make. Then, before launching the above command, type at the A:\ prompt:

A:\smartdrv.exe

That will activate SMARTDRV and make the process go faster.

Let me know if you need a more detailed tutorial on any of this.

Member Avatar for Ekion

well i tryed to do what u said but when i type my cd drive would be D so i type D:/i386/winnt.exe and it just takes me to the D:/ command prompt it dont run stuff i dunno how to change the path so isnt it suppose to look like this

<D:/i396/>
that as the command prompt then i would just do

<D:/i386/> Run Winnt.exe

is that right if so how do i get to the <D:/i396/> command prompt

Member Avatar for jaishankar

If ur Win xp cd is bootable then u will get this message 'Press any key to boot from CD.....'

The partition ur trying to format is in NTFS format and so ur Win 98 bootable does not recognize the drive.

You cant run a Windows XP setup in DOS mode

The boot sequence should be like this

Old MB
1st boot - CD-Rom
2nd boot - HDD 0

New MB
1st boot - CD/DVD 0
2nd boot - HDD 0

Member Avatar for Ekion

right i know that the windows xp cd is bootable but for some reason my computer just wont boot it ived chaned all the bios and stuff

Member Avatar for caperjack

any chance that you have 2 cd roms and you are not putting the winxp disk in the cdrom set to master .

Member Avatar for jaishankar

any chance that you have 2 cd roms and you are not putting the winxp disk in the cdrom set to master .

:eek: gud point

Member Avatar for BinaryMayhem

if you still can't get it to work, try making a boot disk. you need 6 floppies.
bootdisk

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