changing BIOS to load from CD with no current OS

[foundonfloor]

I have recently replaced my hard drive with much thanks to this community and your guidance, and i now have the Windows XP Home install disc ready to go.

I cannot seem to get the computer to boot from the CD drive though. Some Google searches told me the best way was to restart the system and hold down F1,F2,F10 etc. etc. But this pertains to computers that already have Windows or another Operating System installed.

How could one go about booting the XP install disc with nothing more than a blank hard drive?

As always any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!

 

[foundonfloor]

i should also mention, that when i am attempting to do this, my monitor is in "Test" mode. i'm assuming because there is simply nothing loaded at the time.

 

[JinkX]

was ur computer working in the old os ??
or ur computer is brand new ??

 

[foundonfloor]

the computer was working fine.

hard drive became fried and was replaced.

all other components remain the same

 

[JinkX]

ahhh ..
well lsn .. restart ur computer ..
press delete on ur keybord or f8 if u have a laptop !
change the boot sequence to make the cd - boot , is the first one
and u know what to do then !

 

[foundonfloor]

i still am getting nothing but the "test" screen on my monitor though.

the mobo had a built in graphics chip, but i since installed a more powerful Ati Radeon.

i've tried both chip outputs but still get the same test screen.

any ideas?

thanks