HUGE problem!!

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

I have a Dell Inspiron 4150 in which I have Windows XP Home Edition. I've
been wanting to reinstall it by clean install using the Windows XP cd, now,
the problem is that my cd driver is not working at all, so, is there any
other way through which I can install it without having to use my cd
driver??? some network instalation?? any floppy instalation?? ANYTHING
PLEASE!!

PS: I was wondering if by any chance any of you would know what could've
happened to my cd driver it just stop reading/burning cd AT ALL, although it
is detected by the system. I can even eject the tray but it's not reading!!
(that's why I need another way to install Win XP again without using my cd
driver).

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Yvan Luan wrote:
> I have a Dell Inspiron 4150 in which I have Windows XP Home Edition.
> I've been wanting to reinstall it by clean install using the Windows
> XP cd, now, the problem is that my cd driver is not working at all,
> so, is there any other way through which I can install it without
> having to use my cd driver??? some network instalation?? any floppy
> instalation?? ANYTHING PLEASE!!
>
> PS: I was wondering if by any chance any of you would know what
> could've happened to my cd driver it just stop reading/burning cd AT
> ALL, although it is detected by the system. I can even eject the tray
> but it's not reading!! (that's why I need another way to install Win
> XP again without using my cd driver).

CD Driver.. Or CD Drive?

If you can put your CD into the Drive (Windows Xp Installation CD) and go
into the BIOS and select to boot from the CD Drive - and when you stat the
system back up it asks you to "Press any key to boot from CD", then you are
done and you can delete the current partitions, create new ones and install
Windows XP fresh on the system - because reinstalling Windows has nothing to
do with having the right CD Drive driver in your current install of Windows
XP - iof your system sees and boots off it, then you are done.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

"Yvan Luan" wrote:

> I have a Dell Inspiron 4150 in which I have Windows XP Home Edition. I've
> been wanting to reinstall it by clean install using the Windows XP cd, now,
> the problem is that my cd driver is not working at all, so, is there any
> other way through which I can install it without having to use my cd
> driver??? some network instalation?? any floppy instalation?? ANYTHING
> PLEASE!!
>
> PS: I was wondering if by any chance any of you would know what could've
> happened to my cd driver it just stop reading/burning cd AT ALL, although it
> is detected by the system. I can even eject the tray but it's not reading!!
> (that's why I need another way to install Win XP again without using my cd
> driver).

Some Dell PC's and laptop's have diagnostic software installed on them. To
run the software, boot the laptop and watch for the following:

"Press F12 to enter boot menu"

(On my friends laptop it was F12.)

When you see the message press 'F12' to enter the boot menu. Once you are in
the boot menu, select 'Diagnostics' to run the diagnostic software. You can
select testing of specific devices like your CD drive or DVD drive. Run these
tests to make sure that your hardware is not broken. I recently did this for
my friend and found that her DVD drive hardware was broken. The drive was
detected by windows correctly, but if I put a disk into the drive, the disk
would not be detected. XP would always report that the drive was empty. Tray
ejection worked correctly, the drive was seen by XP but, the drive couldn't
detect a disk at all. Since XP detects the drive, I tend to think that your
driver may be working correctly and that it is the hardware that is broken.