Windows XP boot issues

Alright, I’m in a bit of a bind here and could really use some help... someone handed me this CD, and let's just say it doesn't look like an official retail copy...

Basically, I popped the disc in, rebooted my PC, hopped into the BIOS, and set the CD-ROM as the primary boot device. Hit save and exit, the system restarts automatically, I see that "press any key..." prompt, and I hit a key—only to be greeted by this:



The problem is, my keyboard completely freezes up. I can't move anything, so I just have to sit there for about 30 seconds before it force-restarts itself, only to loop right back to the same damn screen...

Where did I screw this up, and how do I fix it? 🤷

try that disc in another PC, or just test a different bootable one on yours.

I checked everything and it all seems to be running fine...

Just wanted to point out that even after dealing with this mess, I went back into the BIOS and set the boot priority back to the hard drive just like before—but nope, still nothing. I'm getting that same error shown in the photo above. 😳

Lawrence Murphy68 said:I checked everything on my end, and it all seems to be working fine...

I should also mention that even after dealing with this mess, I went back into the BIOS and set it up to boot from the hard drive just like before. But it’s still not working—it just keeps showing that same error message you see in the picture above.😳

It’s entirely possible that your keyboard is essentially freezing the moment you exit the BIOS. So, while that "Press any key to boot from CD..." prompt is sitting there on the screen, you might be tapping away, but the computer isn't registering a single keystroke. It just ignores you and moves straight to the hard drive.

Take a look through your BIOS settings to see if there's an option to enable USB support for the keyboard. If you find it, go ahead and turn it on (there might be a similar setting related to general USB peripheral support, too).

Daniel Palmer5 said:It’s entirely possible the keyboard just freezes the second you exit the BIOS—so while that "Press any key to boot from CD..." message is staring you in the face, you're hammering away, but the PC isn't getting any signal at all, causing it to just skip straight to the hard drive.

Check your BIOS settings to see if there's an option to enable USB support for the keyboard; if you find it, flip it on (there might be something similar labeled under general USB peripheral support).

Man, you're a lifesaver 👍

Thanks, it works! 😁