BleepingComputer.com: XP will not boot in normal, safe or last good config.

Computer was running fine this morning before I went to work. Came home for lunch and there are a few kids here being baby sitted by my daughter. Computer was at the windows screen but would go no further. Turned it off and tried to reboot and machine again. No luck. Turned it off and tried to reboot to last known good configuration. No dice. Tried to reboot in safe mode. It goes thru quite a few system files and then hangs up. Tried the Recovery Console and am not able to type any commands. Can't boot from the XP CD either. Nothing works. I am at a loss. Not too software savy so any help would be appreciated. Also searched around here for some time before I posted this.

Thank you in advance.

Make sure the cd drive is the first device in the bios boot order. Then insert the XP CD and reboot. You should now be able to boot to it.

Don't know what the kids did to your computer, but if you can't get it to boot at all (other than to the cd), you can do a repair installation:

Boot to the XP CD and choose the SECOND repair option, allowing XP to install on top of itself. After completion you'll need to go to Windows Update and download & install all updates (except for hardware & driver related updates, which should never be downloaded from Windows Update - only from the OEM websites). Here is a clear tutorial on how to perform a repair install: http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/138-how-to-repair-windows-xp/

Went into the bios and made the cdrom drive number 1 in the boot order. And still nothing. Seems as though it is not being recognized. It doesn't spin up at all. Light comes on but it seems that no one is home. I did this exact repair that you are suggesting a while back. That's what I was hoping would work this time. It seems that my computer is going thru alot of cdroms. After a particularly bad virus a while back, both my dvd and cd rom died. I put in a spare and did the repair. Now it seems that this drive is dead too. What would be killing these drives? Anyway...I've got one more cdrom that I'm going to put in and give it another whirl. I'll come back and post my results. Thank you for your help.

There are only 3 possible reasons you can't boot to a cd or dvd:
1) The device is not at the top of the bios boot order or
2) The drive itself is bad or
3) The disk is bad or not bootable

System manufacturer and model? Is the original CMOS battery still in?

The fact that you cannot access/use any drive properly...would make me think possible dying CMOS battery or PSU issue.

<<After a particularly bad virus a while back, both my dvd and cd rom died. I put in a spare and did the repair.>>

Please...how long in specific terms...is "a while back"?

Louis

The computer is a Dell Dimension 8400. I've had it about six years since new. That while back was last summer. Two drives failed. Put in another drive in the fall when I had the boot problem. Did a windows repair with that drive and now it no longer works and again with this boot problem.

Original battery is still in it.

This post has been edited by rrochell8: 26 May 2011 - 08:00 PM