Windows XP won't boot from CD?

I’ve got this Dell Latitude sitting here with a 120GB Hitachi hard drive, and after I went ahead and wiped everything clean from the drive, I tried to boot up using a Windows installation CD, but instead of starting the setup, the screen just stares back at me with this message:

Non-System disk or disk error
replace and strike any key when ready

_

And to make matters even more complicated, my laptop doesn't even have a floppy drive to work with.

rowdyjackal18 said:I've got this Dell Latitude laptop equipped with a 120GB Hitachi hard drive—I went ahead and wiped everything off the drive entirely. Now, the problem is, whenever I pop in a Windows installation CD, the thing just refuses to boot from it. Instead, I'm staring at this message:

Non-System disk or disk error
replace and strike any key when ready

_

Oh, and just as an added complication, there isn't even a floppy drive on this machine.

1. Did you actually select the CD as the boot device? You usually have to hit F12 to get that menu up.
2. Is that XP-based media actually bootable? I mean, have you successfully used it before?

Is the disc okay? Like, I mean, it isn't scratched up or anything, right?

Is this disc a bootleg or the real deal?

Bryan Palmer9 said:Is the media actually good? I mean—assuming it isn't scratched up or anything.

But the real question is... is it even bootable?

You will need to access the BIOS. Right when you first power on the computer, press the required key to enter the BIOS settings. It might be F1, F2, Dell, or something else entirely; the screen should indicate which key to use just a few seconds after startup. Once inside the BIOS, configure the system to boot from the CD drive. Press F10 and then Enter, allowing the machine to process the changes. After that, simply insert the installation CD into the drive and you should be all set.

The most common key for getting into BIOS is Dell, but you shouldn't just mash it because you might trigger a keyboard error. I figured you’d have already done what Daniel Cruz28 suggested. Basically, you just go into the BOOT DEVICE PRIORITY settings, set the CD/DVD drive to number one, and then switch the hard drive back to its original spot afterwards.

On those Dell Latitude machines, you hit F10 to get right into the BIOS.

Benjamin King2 said:On those Dell Latitudes, you hit F10 to get into the BIOS.

😳 😳

Pfff, I’m certainly not oblivious enough to overlook the BIOS settings; I actually checked those first, but no luck there. In the end, I just used Nlite to strip down the image from that old XP-based pirate CD and burned it onto a DVD, and that finally did the trick.
Thanks.