How do you boot?

15 years ago

I have a Dell XPS 400 Desktop with the latest XP. It is infected so I gave up on it and am trying to erase the hard drive and reinstall XP. I have no idea how to do either so I have been struggling.

Dell provided me with a "Reinstallation CD" to add back the operating system. I will have to add back everything else of course. But there are no instructions so, so far I have wasted three hours of my life that I will not get back and restarted the PC about a million jillion times trying this or that.

Let's just say that my opinion of Windows has sunk even further if this is such a difficult a thing to figure out. Sigh!

I cannot logon into the Internet from the infected PC. What do I do?

I have created a list of the various software packages that I see if the Control Panel's Add/Remove Software Window so I know what needs to be reinstalled back but it is silly to say that I cannot figure out how to get the reinstall thing going....

The CD from Dell tells me that there is Windows Version out there already and to reboot in order to reinstall. A jillion reboots later, no progress. Tried PF2, PF8 PF12. It is as if the CD Developer thought Windows came with an instruction booklet that I could reference as it pops error messages.... Oh well.

So, what am I supposed to do here? I found no info on the FAQs and got too many hits on the word "boot".

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Comments (8)

mike_kaiser_gw
15 years ago
What happens when you reboot?

Typically with recovery CD's you boot from the CD. Most computers are set up to boot from the hard drive (which now contains your infected operating system). You need to go into the BIOS (F12 at start-up) and change the boot sequence to boot from the CD first. From there follow the on screen directions.
luis_pr
Original Author
15 years ago
After inserting the CD into the drive and restarting the PC, nothing different happens.

When I hit PF12, I get a menu with a plethora of choices, none of which was written in English. For example:

Boot Device Menu

Onboard or USB Floppy Drive
Onboard SATA Hard Drive
Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive
USB Device

System Setup
Hard Drive Diagnostics
Boot to Utility Partition
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bob414
15 years ago
You want to choose to boot from the CD-ROM drive.
homebound
15 years ago
As you reboot, keep pressing F8. You should get a screen that gives some options on how to boot.
mike_kaiser_gw
15 years ago
When I hit PF12, I get a menu with a plethora of choices, none of which was written in English. For example:

Choose Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive. You want to boot from the recovery CD.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
you should save the drivers so that when you do reinstall you will have them readily available this little program can do that for you, you can save them to a flash drive or cd or external drive. If you do not do that then you will need to go out and find all the drivers from the various manufacturers. I would also install belarc on that pc from a flash drive if you are unable to go online with it, and run the scan and print out the info so you have that handy.
Double Driver Double Driver
Belarc Advisor
luis_pr
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the suggestion. I had already tried it and it "did not work". Windows Setup does start when I do that but then.... I thought it was kicking me out because I was trying to install XP on a partition that contained another operating system. I had not seen that it was more of a warning and that it was basically saying "watch out; proceed if you want to do it though". I thought my only choice was to completely Exit out of the Setup Process. I did that the first time but caught on now when I noticed so many people suggesting that I di what I had already done. Figured maybe I missed something and paid more attention to the screens. Thanks a lot guys! PS - thanks for the link for the drivers but I caught that after starting the reformatting of the hard disk. Oh well.
mike_kaiser_gw
15 years ago
Probably best if you don't attempt to reuse any drivers from the previous install. While viruses don't usually hide there you never know what might get passed to a backup.

Computers actually operate in a pretty logic sequence and modern operating systems typically give you fair warning about making a serious mistake. Try to carefully and calmly read messages so you know what's about to happen.

How do you boot?

Comments (8)

mike_kaiser_gw

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How do you boot?

Comments (8)

mike_kaiser_gw

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