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HP PC wont boot to CD from xp to xp pro

By sixfs ·
I have a retail HP desktop PC that came from the factory with XP Home preloaded. To perform a re-store of the OS requires 10 cd's! I want to install XP Pro at my office, I have changed boot order to cd first, and when I insert the Pro cd, I get an error message that tells me because I am installing an older version of windows, I must insert the cd and reboot! When I do that, the computer hangs at startup and does nothing. HP support will only tell me that they do not recommend installing xp pro on machines shipped with xp home on them because some software might not work! How can I wipe out xp home, and just install xp pro?

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by kraugie In reply to HP PC wont boot to CD fro ...

One thing to check for would be bios updates for the motherboard. They are usually readily available on HPs support site.

My response to HPs answer would be I dont recommend XP home for anything. HEHE

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by Blackcurrant In reply to HP PC wont boot to CD fro ...

Hi

Have you tried installing the drive in another machine and copying any data off it. Next, format it, then put it back in the original machine and try installing XP Pro?

Good luck

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by TheChas In reply to HP PC wont boot to CD fro ...

The source of the error you are getting is that your XP Pro CD is an older version of XP than what you presently have.

You have 2 options:

Create a slip-stream XP Pro installation CD that is updated to at least the service pack level of XP on the PC.

Format the drive and start over.

The CD boot could be hanging for a number of reasons.

The default storage drivers on your XP CD will not work with the IDE controller on the PC.

HP may have a recovery partition on the drive, or a BIOS overlay that interferes with the CD boot process.

One option to try, is to download the correct floppy boot creating file and attempt to boot from floppy instead of CD.

Chas

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by willcomp In reply to HP PC wont boot to CD fro ...

Well, Chas about covered all the bases.

I suspect that you have SP2 installed and that XP Pro CD does not include SP2. If so, won't install.

Here's a good link on how to slipstream SP2 onto an XP CD.

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/winxp-sp2-bootcd.html

It's not difficult, but follow instuctions carefully.

Dalton

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