WIn XP won't boot to CD-Rom

With the Win98 boot disk and CD Rom support type in Wininit.exe

One would not work without the other if one is master and the other is slave.  Try one at a time but verofy that it is master before you restart the computer.
Try the CDRom as the single on the controller and then try to boot from it.

Oops I wrong exe. Either try i386\winnt.exe or i386\winnt32.exe. I don't remember which one it is.

>>>ATAPI CD Rom...failure

I had a similar problem and thought something was wrong with the BIOS or the motherboard. However I just had to go into the BIOS and play around with several settings until it finally worked. I don't remember what I did but I think either I told the BIOS to auto detect the devices or I told it what the device was on the controller. Like I said I don't remember precisely what I did but whatever it was I finally got the problem corrected. You maybe inadvertently using cable select in the BIOS but the CD's jumbers are not set to be cable select so when you unplug the one the BIOS doesn't see it.

From MS KB

http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q278104

BEGIN ARTICLE

"This Program Cannot Be Run in DOS Mode" Running Windows XP Setup (Q278104)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:


Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SYMPTOMS
When you run Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Setup.exe from a real-mode command prompt, you receive the following error message:

This program cannot be run in DOS Mode.



CAUSE
Setup.exe is not intended to be run from MS-DOS mode for Windows XP.



RESOLUTION
To run Setup from MS-DOS, you can run Winnt.exe from the I386 folder on the Windows XP CD-ROM. Type drive :\i386\winnt.exe , where drive is your CD-ROM drive, to start Setup.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published Jan 9 2001 2:06PM  Issue Type kbprb  
Last Modifed Nov 5 2001 1:16PM  Additional Query Words  
Keywords kberrmsg kbsetup  

COPYRIGHT NOTICE. Copyright 2002 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 U.S.A. All rights reserved.
 
END  ARTICLE

What if I am using Windows XP Professional, will
winnt.exe still work?

I believe so. Also with your BIOS it may have something called Fail Safe and/or Default settings you may try invoking these to reset your BIOS. I would suggest Fail Safe first if your BIOS has it.

How will this work when the BIOS is apparently not recognizing the CDs?

>>>This is very strange, does anyone have any ideas as to what could be going on here? I have tried to boot using the Win98 boot disk w/ CD rom supportand then type setup, but I get the message "This can only be run in Windows"

Not sure but apparentyl mbr2 was able to get to the Setup.exe using the Win98 bootdisk.

This is true but the errors reported indicate that the CDs are not found by the BIOS.  Is it possible that setup is being run from C:\ and actually references another program?

The ATAPI CD Rom...failure notice for mbr2 seems to only happen when the BIOS is set to boot from the CD. I had a similar problem as I mentioned before. This problem only would appear when I tried to boot from the CD, However when the BIOS was not set to boot from the CD the CD was still accessible in Windows and from the Win98 boot disk. Like I mentioned I finally was able to get my system pass this problem by playing around in the BIOS.

here's something strange, I reboot the computer with
the Win 98 boot disk. The Cd now shows up as D:<drive>
which is actually my old hard drive. Now, when I put
the WinXP CD in and goto d:\I386 prompt, and type
winnt, I get the followinig error message:

"An internal setup error has occurred. Could not find
a place for a swap file."

I have deleted the primary dos partition using "fdisk"
and then rebooted. I did not format the hard drive at all.

Any other ideas as to what's going on here?

Thanks,

Mark

>>>Is it possible that setup is being run from C:\ and actually references another program?

Unlikely unless mbr2 specifically pointed to the C drive when executing Setup.exe, but I guess it is possible. :>)

Go ahead and format it and make sure you have set that partition as active.

Wait a minute you said you deleted the primary dos partition did you fdisk to replace the one you deleted? You need to have an fdisked partition as preferably FAT32 so XP knows what to look for. From there XP will take over and ask questions of you. Pay very close attention to the questions because I believe one of the questions will be if you want NTFS or not.

This is too confusing for me.  I will leave it for the REAL experts.

Here's another twist:

I have unplugged my Read only Cd drive, and plugeed in
my R/W cd drive, I have used the failsafe settings in the
BIOS and rebooted using the WIN98 boot disk. Now keep in mid that the hard drive is not formatted and has no partition.

Now, I can not even get to the Cd Rom prompt <D,E> in DOS
even after booting with CD Rom support! Basically I am told
I don't have a Cd rom any more. And on top of that I get
a new error message without doing anything but switching
CD-Rom's. The new error message is.......

Missing or corrupt files:

\Windows\himem.sys
\Windows\dblbff.sys
\Windows\Isshlp.sys

How can I have corrupt files on a drive with out a partition, and is not formatted?

Thanks for all the help,

Mark

You really need to start over and fdisk the C drive first and get a partition setup and formatted. The Missing or corrupt files: message is just saying that it can't find these files which of course it won't because you have what amounts to an empty disk that is not partitioned or formatted.

If I may throw in my 2 cents, the first priority is to get the cd(s) recognized (can't set up with out them)
try getting another boot disk from www.bootdisk.com set it up and boot from it (Note the drive letter assigned to the cd drive) and then from a prompt type
x:
dir
Where x: is the letter assigned the cd
(you should see a listing of files)
also open the case and make sure the cables haven't worked loose, check the slave /master jumper settings
hopefully the controller hasn't gone south on you

Ummm Hi Steve. The bootdisk mbr2 was working because mbr2 was able to use it to access the CD on at least two occasions since this thread started. Although granted the floppy by now could have gotten some bad sectors on it causing some file corruptions.

mbr2 lost CD ROM support after invoking FAIL SAFE, which this shouldn't have caused the lost of the CD. Also mbr2 deleted the primary partition hence the reason I am suggesting reestablishing the partition with fdisk. The reason why I suggested this is to try and find out if the drive is still functional. Something weird is happening here and it could be in part something to do with the hard disk so I figured if mbr2 could get the disk to partition and format then we can probably eliminate the HD as the source of this overall weirdness.

I am reasonably sure the CD problem thing is in the BIOS and is fixable. I have suggested mbr2 may have the jumper setting set inaccurately in accordance to how the BIOS is setup to look for it but mbr2 hasn't said anything on this as of yet. However given the fact that mbr2 has been in out of the machine and making physical changes to it your suggestion that the cables may have worked loose may be part of the current problem.

I guess what I am driving at is that the this thread was going at a fast pace there for a while and I was hoping to get mbr2 to just focus in on one thing at a time. I thought maybe there is some confusion going on between mbr2 and the experts that it might be prudent to slow down the pace a little, if know what I mean. :>)

Crazy One,

Thank you and every one else for all your help. I was trying
alot of different things and none seemed to work, so I went another route. I got a CD-Rom that I had just used to boot to and install WinXP on another computer. I put it in the computer and still no luck booting to the Cd-Rom with Win XP.

I then took Win NT 4.0 and the CD-Rom booted to that disk
just fine, so I installed NT, SP6, and then did a full
install to Win XP. This was the only way I could get it to work. The only problem I have is that NT will only install
on a 4GB partition, which I set up during the NT install.
The hard drive is 40GB, but I now have 2 partitions in XP
one 4GB and one 36GB. My question is...and I can add an
additional 50 pts. or so....How can I, in Win XP merge these
two partitions into one 40GB partition? Will I need to buy
special software ie. partition magic?

Hi mbr2.

First, some answers for you and then a procedure to follow.

You stated, ""An internal setup error has occurred. Could not find a place for a swap file."

The reason for this error was the lack of a properly established partition that has been formatted in either FAT or NTFS. (Yes, you can format a partition in NTFS by inserting the drive into an existing Win XP machine and formatting it to NTFS and then put it into the target machine and make the partition active). You must have a partition space somewhere in the system for the initial files to be copied. The only exception to this is an OEM install of XP.

Second, you state "Now, I can not even get to the Cd Rom prompt <D,E> in DOS even after booting with CD Rom support! Basically I am told I don't have a Cd rom any more. And on top of that I get a new error message without doing anything but switching CD-Rom's. "

This occurs when you remove an Atapi device from the end of a IDE chain, and/or leave only a "not-fully-ATAPI-compliant" device on the IDE chain (IDE cable).

Put both CD-Rom drives back where you had them and boot into the BIOS setup and make certain both are recognized. If they aren't, thereby requiring DOS boot drivers in order to see them, this indicates that the drives are not fully Atapi compliant.

Here's a procedure to follow:

1. Make sure that you have a Windows 98 Startup Boot Disk that works as it should.

2. Add smartdrv to that boot disk.

3. Reconnect your CD Rom drives as they were before and reboot to the Windows 98 Boot Disk with CD-Rom support.

4. Fdisk the drive and select large disk support. Create the partition or partitions that you need and make sure drive "C" is active. Reboot back to the boot disk (with CD Rom support) and format the hard drive.

**Note the CD Rom (not CD-R) drive letter.

5. At the Dos prompt type "lock" (without quotes) and answer yes. This enables XP (or NT if you will) to access the partition data.

6. At the Dos prompt, type "smartdrv" and touch the enter key. This will speed up the file transfer.

7. Now change to the i386 directory on the CD-Rom drive and type "winnt" without quote and install XP.

Dennis

mbr, if you follow the above, you won't need to merge the partitions. Sorry for the belated post, but I was trying to cover all that you mentioned with a workable procedure for you.

Dennis,

Thanks for your post, I will try doing what you suggested
on the machine I'm going to upgrade next. Can I use
smartdrv from Win95? Also, can I divide point among
people who have answered my question? CrazyOne has helped
me alot, but I don't want to forget about anyone else either.

Thanks,

Mark

I would use your Win98 boot disk on all machines mbr.

As for points, community support will handle your request when your all set.

Floppy Disks created from Microsoft web site worked pefectly!!

Thanks,

Mark

:>)