boot up message

[tony1982]

hi CTH staff can you help me with this problem?? when i boot the computer i am getting this message "Hooking bootstrap interrupt 18h

[Spider]

That means the computer can't find your Windows XP on the hard drive.

Do you know how to boot into a floppy disk?
Hopefully your formatted FAT32 and you can use a Windows98/ME bootdisk
and then go to C: and type dir and see if C:\Windows folder is still there.

[tony1982]

ok thanx for your advice i'll give that a try i dont have a windows xp disk but i have got a windows me disk, i noticed since i started getting this message my floopy disk drive dont let me save on it it keeps saying its in "write protect" even though it aint

[tony1982]

hi spider i made a windows xp boot up disk ages ago could you tell me how i can boot up with that please??

[Spider]

Press the delete key during boot up and in the bios there will be
the boot order or boot sequence.
Set it so the floppy drive (A:) is first, then insert the floppy
and save and exit settings in the bios.

[tony1982]

thanx for replying back spider i'll try that now

[tony1982]

hi, i got to the bios bit by pressing del at the boot up screen i checked the boot up order its 1st floppy 2nd IDE-0 3rd CD-ROM so i went to exit and put the xp boot up disk in it started booting up then it said A:\ but i was not sure what i sure type there?? i also forgot to mention this whole problem with the eror message started when i install a network card can you please help

[Spider]

A: is the floppy drive C: is the hard drive.

So to get to the hard drive you type c: then hit the enter key.

Then type dir and it will show all the folders and files. Your
looking for the Windows folder. If its there then type cd windows
and see if the System32 folder is there with dir.

For the network card prob you can go back into the bios and there is a
setting in there PnP OS (plug and play OS), ensure that says yes.

[tony1982]

hi, i tried my xp boot disk when i put that in it said A:\> so i typed in c: but it kept saying invalid file specification thanx for all your help its appreciated

[Spider]

try cd c:

[tony1982]

hi, i tried that cd c: but once i boot up with the xp boot disk in the A: it dont let me get into the c: is there another way of getting around this?? thanx

[Spider]

If your getting Invalid drive specification then the hard drive
isn't being recognized and then the boot disk has done it's job in getting
closer to your problem.

Pull out that ether card (network card) you put in and try booting normally
and booting pushing the F8 key for Safe Mode.

You can also verify if the bios sees the hard drive but looking in the bios for
Primary IDE Master
Primary IDE Slave
Secondary IDE Master
Secondary IDE Slave

The Primary IDE Master should be set to Auto and you should
see the drive brand name.

[Spider]

I should also get you to check the IDE ribbon molexes (plugs on the ribbon).

Sometimes when your a bit new to tinkering inside you can easily loosen a connection.
Push all molexes to ensure they are in all the way. Use a rocking motion with your
thumb and a finger on either end of the molexes.

The motherboard one as well. The hard drive ribbon will be connected to the motherboard
on the Primary IDE controller slot (plug).

[tony1982]

ok thanx for replyin back spider i'll give that a go and i'll let you know how it turned out thanx alot for all your help

[Spider]

No problem, your welcome.