bobthenoob112 Posted November 24, 2008 Posted November 24, 2008 Hi, I have an old Pc that has a big problem, I recently got a virus which set to work corrupting and changing data and generally causing havoc... so i checked it with mcafee and it said it had quarantined and removed the virus, i rebooted and the nex time i went on, XP wouldn't start, it just said there was a problem starting windows and then came up with the advanced windows startup options... to cut a long story short every option it gave me didn't work, it just rebooted itself for no apparent reason. so i tried reformatting and reinstalling XP, i did it and the setup rebooted my computer ready for the next stage, however, when it started up, it didn't boot, instead it just stopped and then loaded the setup disc again after about 2 minutes, i checked to see if it had installed and it had, so i overwrote it and tried again... 20 minutes later and the same thing happened again. I have tried both disk formats (NTFS and FAT32) and nothing works. please help because i have no idea what to do. (NOTE this isnt my normal PC this is my backup one because i tinker with my good one quite alot so it comes in handy if something screws up...) Here are the specs: (yes i know theyre awful, but i dont care i need this PC to work...) AMD Duron 800MHz 128MB RAM 20GB HDD 32MB Nvidia GeForce 2 MX/400 Some generic DVD dirive... And a floppy drive Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewr05 Posted November 24, 2008 Posted November 24, 2008 So when you reinstalled windows you completely formatted the drive, correct? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthenoob112 Posted November 24, 2008 Posted November 24, 2008 So when you reinstalled windows you completely formatted the drive, correct? yep Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewr05 Posted November 24, 2008 Posted November 24, 2008 Hmmm... Do you have a spare drive to test out in this machine? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARandomOWL Posted November 24, 2008 Posted November 24, 2008 Make sure ur HDD is set as ur 1st boot device. It looks like XP has copied the files then it should reboot & load the setup from ur HDD, but if ur CD drive is set to boot first it will just load the setup from the disc again which u don't want it to do. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthenoob112 Posted November 24, 2008 Posted November 24, 2008 Make sure ur HDD is set as ur 1st boot device. It looks like XP has copied the files then it should reboot & load the setup from ur HDD, but if ur CD drive is set to boot first it will just load the setup from the disc again which u don't want it to do. I cant do anything about that, the BIOS Has been disabled Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARandomOWL Posted November 24, 2008 Posted November 24, 2008 What do u mean it's been disabled? Even if some settings have been blocked u should still be able to change the boot priority. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthenoob112 Posted November 24, 2008 Posted November 24, 2008 What do u mean it's been disabled? Even if some settings have been blocked u should still be able to change the boot priority. how do i change the boot priority? (The BIOS IS MADE BY AMERICAN MEGATRENDS IF THAT HELPS) the PC iS made by packard bell but their support for the PC was discontinued 5 years ago So i cant get any help off them, but they disabled the ability to change BIOS settings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARandomOWL Posted November 25, 2008 Posted November 25, 2008 When ur PC posts (a packard bell screen will prolly appear) it should say press F1 or Del or something to enter setup. Try pressing that & u should see a blue screen with some options on it. See if u can find that first. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthenoob112 Posted November 25, 2008 Posted November 25, 2008 When ur PC posts (a packard bell screen will prolly appear) it should say press F1 or Del or something to enter setup. Try pressing that & u should see a blue screen with some options on it. See if u can find that first. There isnt an option, just a screen with the packard bell logo, it pauses for a few minutes, very quickly shows the screen with the computer information on it and then tries to load some form of boot disk, i have no idea why this is, but i cannot change the boot priorities. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zerox12 Posted November 25, 2008 Posted November 25, 2008 F8 and F10 have worked in the past on pre-builts for me when they don't list a button to get into the bios. Trust us, you can get into the bios and change boot priorities. Now, whether or not it'll tell you how to do it is another matter entirely. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthenoob112 Posted November 25, 2008 Posted November 25, 2008 There isnt an option, just a screen with the packard bell logo, it pauses for a few minutes, very quickly shows the screen with the computer information on it and then tries to load some form of boot disk, i have no idea why this is, but <_< i cannot change the boot priorities. Ive fixed it!!! No need for any more posts! but thanks for the help, it pointed me in the right direction... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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