Windows Setup/Re-formatting help!

[eznorb`]

So I decided to reformat. Wow, I guess I didn't know it could be this complicated. So I put the windows xp disc in and it comes up with a bunch of options. I wasn't really sure which to choose so I did repair. It goes through all the necessary steps and everything and when it is setting up windows again it asks me for a disc that I never had to begin with. So it would just get stuck in windows setup. I would click cancel and or ok and both times it would freeze and restart. I can't get past this point at all and if I could I would just wipe the drive completely and just re-install windows.

Steps:
1. I turn the computer on and it goes through normal processes.
2. The windows xp screen comes up with the little loading bar at the bottom like always.
3. A new screen comes up saying "restarting windows setup" and then the screen goes black. Nothing is on the screen but the mouse.

I can't get past this :(. haha all i wanted was to re-format, so any advice would be awesome. Thank you.

[Nine]

Okay, so you pretty much have it wrong right from the start so I'll go from the beginning.

As soon as you boot into the CD..

It will start loading all of its drivers etc. (Blue and grey DOS-like screen)

Once that's done:

To set up windows XP now, press ENTER.
Do this. (Press Enter.)

Agree to the EULA (F8)

To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, press ESC.
Do this. (Press Esc)

Choose your partition. (I'm assuming you only have one. If not, I recommend C.)
Press Enter.

To continue Setup using this partition, press C.
Do this (Press C)

Format the partition using the NTFS file system. (You can do quick.. but it's pretty fast either way.)
Press enter.

[eznorb`]

i would love to do this, but when i restart my computer it automatically restarts setup no matter if the windows disc is in or not. i can't exit setup and it is just stuck there every time. i'll restart and same thing everytime, just stuck in setup.

[Nine]

It should be pretty straight forward from there.. but in case it isn't..

It will restart on its own, you'll want to boot to the partition you just formatted. All the setup files are on it.

Let the setup go, it's pretty straight forward.

Once it's done and you boot into windows for the first time, you'll want to get some primary drivers installed. This means motherboard and possibly ethernet (if it isn't already installed by windows or with your motherboard drivers.)

I'm assuming you didn't really prepare for this so just use the CD that came with your motherboard for drivers. Some motherboard drivers will require directx 9 if they're new enough. If they do, it will definitely be on your CD. If you don't install motherboard drivers it isn't a huge deal but I'd highly recommend doing it first.

Second priority once you're online is windows updates to stop all of the ridiculous security holes in XP. Get all the updates, sp2, directx 9 and .NET framework.

Then you can start downloading and installing your device drivers like video, sound etc. Do these one by one and try to download from the manufacturer of the device rather than of its chipset. (So if you have an Asus Geforce, get the drivers from asus, not nvidia.)

[Nine]

i would love to do this, but when i restart my computer it automatically restarts setup no matter if the windows disc is in or not. i can't exit setup and it is just stuck there every time. i'll restart and same thing everytime, just stuck in setup.
Okay you mean Setup as in.. where it's actually setting up and configuring windows?

Is this a prebuilt computer? Can't you choose to boot from the CD instead?

[eznorb`]

i turn off my computer. it boots, and windows starts up like normal. right in the middle of the Windows XP screen it gets cut off and then a blue screen pops up saying "restarting windows setup". It goes to setup and then freezes, goes to a black screen with only my mouse arrow and then just sits there like that for god knows how long. i have let it sit for over an hour and nothing. so i restart and the stupid process starts all over. even if i don't have the windows disc in. i want to exit setup or something so that i can just start over.

[Nine]

It sounds to me like it's booting to the hard drive.
How did you boot into the xp cd the first time?

[eznorb`]

just put the disc in while everything was running normal. while in windows. then i went to repair(which i shouldn't have gone to) and now i'm stuck here. how would i make it boot to disc instead of the hard drive? yeah it seems to me like it keeps booting to the hard drive and would it help to just boot to disc and then from there just create a new partition and erase everything on the hard drive? so basically how do i boot from the cd disc and stop the hard drive from booting?

[Nine]

Well you don't have to create a new partition, so don't.

And how you boot to a CD really depends on your computer. If it's one you built yourself or had someone built for you it could be as simple as changing the boot order in your BIOS.

However, if it's prebuilt (including laptops) they sometimes require other trickery to boot to a CD.

And by the way, you have to have the CD in to boot to it.

[eznorb`]

i built it myself. i have changed boot sequence in the BIOS to boot to CD-ROM 1st. With the disc in, it still does the same process and boots to windows and then starts setup again and freezes. I'll try again though.

[Nine]

Well, where you'd boot to it is after it does all the memory checks, it will check your boot order.

It will be like "Press any key to boot to CD. . . . " and the dots keep coming up for I think 5 seconds.

If that doesn't happen maybe you just have a shitty motherboard, or you have a setting enabled that skips all of that. Check boot options in your bios. Sometimes they'll have a full screen logo type thing that just displays a logo through all of that.

[eznorb`]

ok i'll try to take off the full logo and see if i can see the boot from cd thing.

[Nine]

If it's freezing where you're saying then it's going too far past where you'd boot to a CD.

Oh, and when you set your boot order, depending on your motherboard, some will have options like CDROM-0, CDROM-1, CDROM-2, HDD-0, HDD-1 etc

make sure you're using 0 instead of 1.

[eznorb`]

yep, that worked. booted from CD and just created a new partition. its formatting now and i think i should be good to go. install drivers and let windows update and then we're ready to roll. thank you SO SO SO much Nine. I couldn't tell you that enough. I will bake you some cookies or something to pay you for helping me :). but it truly does mean a lot to me and i appreciate your time. hopefully this will help others with similar problems as well. thanks again and thanks to everyone who helps out in the Tech section of the catacombs.

[Nine]

I accept cash, cheque, paypal and sexual favours.

[eznorb`]

sexual favors are always the way to go.