Hi, Charles.
Each BIOS is specific to the make and model of the computer (actually the
motherboard), so we can't answer that for you without knowing about your
computer - or your motherboard, if it was custom built. But your owner's
manual should tell you.
After you press the specific key as your computer starts to boot, you should
see the first screen for the BIOS setup utility. Probably the first screen
will show you the time setting and the list of connected hard drives, and
maybe the CD/DVD drives, too. You may need to go to a second or third page
to find the place to specify which drive is to be the boot device; most
BIOSes these days let you specify a second choice in case the first one
doesn't hold an operating system at boot time, and maybe a third choice.
When you find this page, set it to boot first from your CD drive. (Most DVD
drives will work as a CD drive as well.)
Once you have the BIOS set to boot from CD, put the WinXP CD-ROM into the
drive and reboot the computer. It should find the startup files on the CD
and boot into the WinXP Setup program. Setup knows how to partition and
format your HD, and copy LOTS of files to that drive. Then, after doing
some preparation, it will automatically reboot. You do NOT want to boot
from the CD this second time! You want to boot from your HD to load WinXP
and continue the Setup process. (It will probably tell you that it will
finish in 39 minutes, but that estimated time is often VERY optimistic.)
You may need to enter the BIOS a second time before the reboot to change the
boot device back to your first HD.
As I said, each BIOS is different. My newest BIOS for this EPoX motherboard
has a new feature that I've not seen before. I can leave it set to boot
from HD, but press <Esc> as it starts to boot. This makes it pause after
detecting the installed devices and present a menu to choose the
one-time-only boot device. I can pick the CD at this point and boot from CD
to start WinXP Setup. Then, when it comes to reboot time, it automatically
reverts to the previous boot device and reboots from my HD to finish Setup.
If you need further instructions, please tell us the make and model of your
computer (or mobo) and someone here should be able to give you specific
advice.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
Microsoft Windows MVP
"Charles" <> wrote in message
news:0ED4A50B-6970-4FE9-AACA-...
> no
> how do you do this. thanks. i know how to get into my bios but i dont know
> where to go to change it.
> thanks
>
> "R. C. White" wrote:
>
>> Hi, Charles.
>>
>> You DID set your BIOS to boot from CD, didn't you?
>>
>> RC
>>
>> "Charles" <> wrote in message
>> news:9655B6CC-0425-4B53-BF52-...
>> >I have the iso saved onto a cd but everytime i start my cpu it wont boot
>> >off
>> > the cd. does anyone know why and or how to make it.
>> > thanks
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