I am trying to perform a system recovery, but my system won't boot from the wind xp cd. I tried to change the bios to boot from cd but there is no cd in the list. Only floppy and hdd. What can I do to get the system to boot from the disk?

Your BIOS menu should have something like this.

Boot Device Priority

1st: Optical drive
2nd: Hard Drive
3rd: Disable
4th: Disable

B4 you criticize a bigger man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, you're a mile away, and you have his shoes.

I only have:

1st: Floppy Drive
2nd: HDD

jhvyoung,

Are you trying to use the recovery console, system restore, or something else?

I'll give some links, to MS articles. See if any of those help/apply, with what you're trying to do. Come back and ask for help, if you need those explained. Someone should be able to walk you through it. Also, tell exactly what you're trying to do. Thanks

MSKB 304449

MSKB 314058

MSKB 310994

CrazyOne

Thanks,
I'll check out the links.
My biggest concern, I guess, is how come I only have two options in the bios for boot priority. It seems like everything I've read, there should be like four and the cd-rom should be listed. My bios boot priority only lists my floppy and one of my hdd as options. Thanks for the links!

Hey....if your BIOS doesn't show the CD-rom drive then you have it disconnected inside your case or it is connected improperly.

jhvyoung,

Well, with out knowing which BIOS & string. It's hard to give you an answer. They each have their own ways of doing things. When you're in the BIOS setup, it should give you a menu, on how to perform/do/change fuctions.

You say you only have two;

1st: Floppy Drive
2nd: HDD

With the "1st: 'Floppy'" highlighted, have you tried to change, what is listed. Check that menu, to see how it's done. (e.g. page up, page down, arrow up arrow down, ect. press Enter, to bring up another menu ect. ect.)

Like I said, it's hard to give an exact way to do it, without knowing the BIOS and string.

Good Luck,
CrazyOne

Don't know if this helps but here is some system info:
Alienware Area 51
OS:Windows XP Prof 2002 w/service pack 2
Mobo: Intel D875PBZ version AAC26680-205
BIOS: version BZ87510A.86A.0123.P33
Proc: Intel P4 3.0 GHz
Ram:2 Gb
Running a SATA 4-Channel Host Controller w/3 HDD's (this is a SIIG,inc High-speed 4-channel PCI-to-Serial ATA host adapter)
HDD #1:Seagate Barracuda 80Gb serial ata
HDD #2:Seagate Barracuda 160Gb serial ata
HDD #3:Seagate Barracuda 160Gb serial ata

Well if you download the pdf manual for your motherboard (Intel D875PBZ), pages 81-82 shows three options under the Boot Device Priority Submenu.

Available selection under this category should include:

• Removable Device
• Hard Drive
• ATAPI CD-ROM
• Disabled

B4 you criticize a bigger man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, you're a mile away, and you have his shoes.