Windows XP Boot Up Floppy Disk Needed

Hi,
Switched on my home PC yesterday, to come across a problem.........
It shows the memory screen when first switched on, then usually screen goes blank and it fires up XP, But a message comes onto the screen saying ATARI CD-ROM, please insert backup disk to restore Windows. This is diverting to the Floppy Drive. i have tried putting in the XP CD, but it doesn't read this at all.
I have created restore points on the PC, but not created a Floppy Backup. How do i go about either creating or obtaining a restore disk, or how can i bypass this problem to Boot up Windows?
Help is greatly needed!
Thanks!!

 

You create the system restore disk from within XP before the problem occurs. The disk is specific to one machine and its registry and a disk made on another machine cannot be used.

Atari? Where did that come from? Looks like you have more problems than a disk will cure. Any more details on this puzzle?

 

So, is there no other way i can boot up windows at all?
The Atari thing i think is the make of the cd burner drive....

 

I doubt you'll fix this with a boot floppy. You need to setup your BIOS to boot from the CD and perhaps perform a system repair.

 

Do you have the XP CD? If so, better go for a repair, as johnwill mentioned. If you get past the license agreement and your present installation is detected, you can simply run the repair. If your installation is not detected, STOP. Continuing will cause you to lose what is on the drive.

All you do is boot from the CD. When it asks if you want to repair and to press "R", don't. Continue with the installation just like you were installing for the first time.

You will then get a license agreement and it will ask you to press F8 to agree. Right after that screen, you will see a list of Windows installations that setup found. It will ask if you want to repair it. Read the directions on that page!!!

Then, you will actually press "R" this time and XP will re-install.

When done, you will be back to your familiar desktop with everything looking just like it did before. But all your Windows Updates are gone and you will need to get those again.

If you have any problems booting from CD, set the CD to boot earlier then the hard drive in BIOS setup, or come back for more help.

 

Are you sure it didn't sayAtapi CD-rom?
I agree with the others, try to do a repair.
Repair XP Installation without Clean Install:



Configure your computer BIOS to start from the CD-ROM drive at bootup.

Insert your Windows XP compact disc (CD) into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.

(You can also boot with a Windows 98/Me Startup disk with CD support and run WINNT.EXE in the I386 folder on the CD)

When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.

When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. Do not select this option.

On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.

Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.

Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

This will repair XP and put everything back to as it first was. You will have to reinstall any Hotfixes and OS updates including SP1 and DX9, plus retweak most (but not all) things all over again.

The advanage here is that you will not have to spend hours reinstallindg all your programs again, as well as setting them up...................

 

Hi, Thanks for the replies. I have already changed the BIOS to Boot from CD first, but this still doesn't seem to work.
And yes, it did say ATAPI, sorry.
I will try again when i get home and keep fingers crossed that it will read the CD.
Thanks again.....

 

What exactly happens when you try to boot from the CD?

 

After hours of trying to boot from the CD, it eventually bought it and loaded through the instructions above.
The same problem came back a couple of times, and after installing for a further 2 times, it seems to be half OK. It now brings up a screen telling me windows did not shutdown properly and gives me a choice of Starting Windows normally, or all safe mode options.
The original problem said:

BOOT FROM ATAPI CD-ROM
BOOT FROM ATAPI CD-ROM
PLEASE INSERT BOOT DISK AND HIT ENTER

How do i boot up windows and get rid of the intermediate 'choice' screen, and is the ATAPI fault serious?

Thanks.........Tim

 

Hi,
Maybe the CD-ROM drive is faulty, and it had trouble reading the CD's boot image, so it refuses to boot, hence the BIOS assumes that the CD is not bootable and asks for a boot floppy, check the IDE cable that's connecting your CD-ROM to the motherboard, also, if you can, try to connect your CD-ROM to another computer and booting with it, if it works then it could be the motherboard, but if it doesn't work, then the CD-drive is faulty and will most probably have to be replaced...

I've experienced faulty CD-drives many times before, on my old PC, I had a *extremely* old Goldstar (now LG) 6X CD-ROM drive that was working until 1999, after which I had to replace it, bought an Acer 50X (stay away from them!! also Benq!!!), drive went bust after only 3 months!!!, now I've purchased a ASUS 50X drive, from last year and it seems to be working fine....

I guess QC (quality control) these days isn't what it used to be for some companies......

-- Also, the Windows XP CD could be damaged (too scratchy to be read correctly), if you can, copy all files off the CD on another computer and burn them to a new CD, you may want to take advantage of slipstreaming SP2 at that point too...

 

where do u make this disk?

 

Cheers, I'll look into that in more detail this weekend, and replace if necessary.
Thanks for the reply.

P.S. How do you make the system restore disk from within XP as mknott wrote above?

 

Hope this might help:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm

Good luck

 

Remember to go back into the BIOS and set your hard drive up as the first boot device after you get windows installed. I usually switch it back on the first reboot during the install, otherwise you will keep entering setup.

 

depending on his bios, he might not keep entering setup. On mine i have to push any key to boot from the cd.