Error Loading Operating System

[alexrjohnson]

I have a compaq presario 1400 notebook, and tried installing windows xp on it. I formatted the 6gb harddrive perfectly fine using ntfs file system, and then an error occured in installing windows. I restarted the notebook and get this message saying error loading operating system and now i can't boot off my widnows disks. I can however get to the setup menu still but have no idea what to do. Did I totally screw up the computer or is it fixable? I have no floppy drive but I do have a cdrom drive.

 

[Win2kpatcher]

Thats odd. Does it even try to boot from the CD-ROM drive at all? I mean can you hear it spin up?

 

[alexrjohnson]

No the compaq logo comes up, then the message comes up it goes absolutely nowhere. But if i press F1 really quick when that logo is up, it will go into the setup menu. I tried putting CDROM at the top of the boot list but that doesn't help because that message still comes up and then I'm screwed.

 

[Macadon]

You may have corrupt media. Check to make sure your CD does not have any deep scratches on it.

Go into setup, check you boot sequence. Make your cdrom first to boot. This is probable the problem, it doesn't see the media or media drive.

 

[Macadon]

No the compaq logo comes up, then the message comes up it goes absolutely nowhere. But if i press F1 really quick when that logo is up, it will go into the setup menu. I tried putting CDROM at the top of the boot list but that doesn't help because that message still comes up and then I'm screwed.

after the compaq logo goes away, do it ask to boot from cd press any key?

 

[alexrjohnson]

No. After the compaq logo goes away the error loading operating system message comes on. I've tried 2 versions of XP, Windows 2000, and the original Windows98 disk that came with the computer (which is bootable cuz I've used it before on a dif pc). So that pretty much throws out the scratched media idea. And yes, CD-Rom is the first thing in the list of things to boot from.

 

[Macadon]

It's not booting from CDrom drive, for some reason it's bypassing it. Is the option beside the cdrom drive in the setup screen that gives option like first, second, third?

 

[alexrjohnson]

I'm gonna try to explain this....Under the boot tab in this order it goes (1)atapi cd-rom drive (2)hard drive (3)removable devices. Under the main tab my cd-rom drive is set as secondary master, with the primary master being [6007mb] which is obviously my hard drive. Now since I formatted the hard drive, there is absolutely nothing on it which means no OS. I can't boot an OS on it because of that stupid error and the fact it won't let me boot from cd. If I borrow my buddies usb cd rom drive is it possible to boot from that, like maybe my internal drive is having some issues? Alright guys any suggestions will work because I just put more memory and stuff into this and need it for work.

 

[alexrjohnson]

Wow I feel really dumb. I did figure it out though all I had to do was hold down the F8 key to get the boot from cd message and get it going. Thanks for the help guys if I run into any more problems I'll post them up.

 

[Macadon]

good luck