Problem: How do you Reload Windows when
CD-ROM doesn't work? What do you do when Windows doesn't run and
you own a CD-ROM version of Windows?
1. Use Windows Startup Disk. If you were prepared, you could
use your Windows Startup Disk to boot Windows (to make a Startup Disk,
format a floppy disk and then click on Start/ Settings/ Control Panel/
Add Remove Programs/ Startup Disk) and then the disk would load a CD-ROM
driver and you could then load Windows from your CD-ROM.
Note 1: Windows 95 does not copy a CD-ROM driver to the Startup
Disk. So you will have to supply your own DOS CD-ROM driver (hopefully
a DOS driver came with your CD-ROM drive) to use this method.
If don't have a Startup Disk, or you can't use your floppy and CD-ROM
at the same time, you have three choices: boot from the CD-ROM drive,
copy the Startup Disk to your hard drive, or borrow a Startup/Boot disk
from a friend.
Note 2: Windows XP does not have a Startup Disk like previous
versions of Windows. Startup procedures for Windows XP will be covered
in a separate topic. Please see the Computer
Problems Help Index.
2. Booting from the CD-ROM. To boot from your CD-ROM you need
to change the device boot order in the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM
first.
So when your computer starts up, most desktop users press the Delete
key while the computer is performing the DOS memory check to enter the
BIOS. Click on one of the BIOS headings and find a setting called "boot
device" or "boot sequence".
Next to the boot device setting will be the devices that are checked
for an operating system at startup e.g. C:, A: . This needs to be changed
to the CD-ROM as the first device and your hard drive as the second
device. So the entry would like something like "boot sequence CD-ROM,
C:\".
Press F10 to save and exit the new settings and then press Y (make sure
the Windows CD is in the drive before pressing Y). Hopefully, your system
will read the Windows CD-ROM and boot the install program. After installing
Windows, enter your BIOS and change the boot order back to the hard
drive as the first device.
3. Copy Rescue Disks/ Startup Disk to Hard Drive. If you can't
boot from your CD-ROM, and can't use a rescue disk because you own a
laptop that only allows use of either the laptop or the CD-ROM, you
can copy your rescue disk to your C: drive. Remove the disk drive, install
the CD-ROM and reboot. Hopefully you will now be able to use your CD-ROM
to install Windows.
4. Borrow a Startup Disk. Find someone with the same version
of Windows as you and use their Startup Disk to start Windows and hopefully
provide a driver for your CD-ROM. (If you're a Win95 user, find someone
with Windows 95 on floppies and borrow that instead.)
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