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Compaq nx6110 Booting from cdrom

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by psynoa 2 views

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I'm trying to boot from the original winXP cd given with the laptop. I choose "optical device" first into BIOS boot config and then save and exit. The machine starts normally, after the compaq logo screen the cd-ron starts and then I have a black screen and reboot to the logo screen! I tried other windows cds and same thing happens. I had a problem with the HDD and I changed it with a new one. Thats why I need to install winXP.I thought that the HDD had a conflict and I removed it from the laptop and tried again to boot from the cd. Same thing again! Can anyone help? (No external HHDs floppy available)!
Thanks

2 replies

by thumbsup2

Sounds like it's not booting to the CD. With some BIOS, a question will popup during boot that asks you if you to press any key to boot to the CD. Without a keypress, it continues, after a few seconds, on to the hard drive to boot. Perhaps this question is hidden by the COMPAQ logo screen or on the black screen in tiny, unreadable characters. During the boot process (with the original HDD), try pressing one of the arrow keys while the COMPAQ logo shows... especially when you hear the CD start... and during the black screen before Windows boots. See if you can catch it.

About changing out the HDD. I'm not sure if they still do it, but COMPAQ used to store the recovery partition on the original HDD (hidden) and the recovery CD only activated what was on there. XP isn't really on the CD. If you took that HDD out, it would not recover. If you have a full retail version of WinXP, it will format the old hard drive and delete that partition. So, only use a full retail XP on the 2nd, new HDD, not the old one.

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