pc - not working

[s.smethurst]

I have tryed re-installing windows, i put the boot disk in, and the pc makes the disk reading sound, but then nothing, i have also tried restarting holding F8 but that doesnt do anything either. do i need to change some settings?

[Confab]

Put the boot disk in and re start your pc. If it boots normally with the floppy disk in then you'll need to go into the BIOS and change the ist boot device to Floppy.

[Tweed]

Turn on the machine and get into the BIOS (usually by holding the delete key when prompted). Once in BIOS, change the boot sequence so the CD is the first boot device. Then restart and WIndows should install from the CD (if it's Win 98).

[Buenchico]

Tweed's method is theoretically correct. i.e. If you set the BIOS to use the CD drive as the first boot device then, assuming you've got the Windows disk in the drive, your system ought to go straight to the CD and start to install Windows. Experience has taught me, however, that this often doesn't work (which is why my previous instructions referred to booting from a floppy). [If you've got a pirated copy of Windows then Tweed's method almost certainly won't work because most pirated copies aren't made on bootable CDs. Not, of course, that I know anything about pirated software :-) ].

Try both methods. Hold down the 'delete' key while starting your computer to get into the BIOS. You might have to hunt around to find the relevant setting but just remember that, because you won't have the mouse available, everything is done by using the up/down arrow keys and/or the '+' and '-' keys, together with 'Enter' (to confirm entries) and 'Esc' (which always takes you back one stage). You'll also need to note which key (possibly F7) is used for 'Save & Exit' but this information should be at the bottom of the screen. Try setting the boot order to 'Floppy, Hard Drive, CD' and using the method I suggested before (i.e. re-start the computer while holding down F8 - if F8 doesn't work try 'Ctrl') or try setting the boot order to 'CD, Hard Drive, Floppy' and using Tweed's method.

Good luck!

Chris

[alunrw]

If you can get into it, heres a useful site giving full step by step info
http://www.dansdata.com/sbs30.htm