Can't Reinstall windows xp

[dshiznit1]

I'm trying to reinstall windows on an old Dell dimension 4100 (its for a teacher of mine) but can't seem to get it to boot from the install disk. I've gone into the bios and changed the boot order but nothing is working. If I disable everything but the CD drive I get a error saying

 

invalid boot diskette

Please insert diskette in A:

 

I'll try a few things but this is really frustrating. Any help is appreciated especially since this is for a teacher.

[exeter_acres]

if it is saying Diskette and Drive A...

 

then the boot order is set to go to the floppy drive and not the CD.......

guessing

[dshiznit1]

I couldn't figure out what the problem was so I just put the hard drive inside another computer and reinstalled windows on it. Problem is now when I try and boot from this hard drive in the original computer it won't load. I don't know what to do. Any ideas?

[Nodgiles]

what do you mean by it wont load? Does it not post, does it boot loop, does it get to a certain point and lock up? The problem with installing on one computer and transferring to another is that windows installs system specific files for your computer. This is why when you upgrade motherboards you have to reinstall. try taking the CD drive from your old computer to the new one, perhaps the Dells drive is bad. You can also try pressing F2 or F12 to get into the boot options on a dell. I forget which F it is for sure.

[dshiznit1]

It does post. And it even gets to the screen that says windows didn't load properly last time, but whenever I choose an option to continue it just freezes. I already tried a different CD drive and with no luck.

 

Does dell have some lock on their bios that prevents the installation from the CD that was not provided w/ the computer?

[Nodgiles]

It does post. And it even gets to the screen that says windows didn't load properly last time, but whenever I choose an option to continue it just freezes. I already tried a different CD drive and with no luck.

 

Does dell have some lock on their bios that prevents the installation from the CD that was not provided w/ the computer?

Not that Ive ever encountered.

[Desja]

you've tried 2 disks try one more some times you get weird disk drives with pal problems. Make sure your jumpers are correct (master/slave) make sure boot order is floppy cd then hdd. I have found some older hp's would not boot into a cd unless I made both the hdd and the cd drive cable select. Just double check your bios then play with the jumpers something will eventually give. Installing xp in another computer and trying to move the drive will not work unless it is exactly the same chipset and sometimes it has to be the same motherboard I have gotten away with it a couple of times on different mobo's bt I don't suggest this as a solution.

[dshiznit1]

Alright I'll mess around for a while. Normally I wouldn't worry this much, its just that this is a teachers PC.

[dshiznit1]

Yeah I'm officially stuck when trying to boot from the CD drive to reload windows. I've removed the floppy drive, disabled it in the bios, set the only boot devices as the CD drive and HDD and it still doesn't work. I've reset the bios, cleared the CMOS, changed jumpers, tried different IDE cables, and still get the disk A error mentioned before. I'll maybe try one different CD drive later before I decide I'll offer to sell my teacher a slightly better computer for dirt cheap (an old P4 system I have lying around) or something hahaha.