I recently reformatted a windows xp computer and now it will only start with the cd in the disk drive. I go to F2 to change the boot sequence to start from the hard drive but it automatically goes back to boot from CD drive. I have manually changed it a number of times but for some reason when I reboot ti automatically goes back to boot from disk drive. How can I fix it to start from the hard drive. Thanks for any info.

Set the Bios to boot from the hard drive, remove the CD from the drive, boot the computer and report what error message comes up.

Perhaps you are missing the boot sector on the hard drive now. When you re-install your operating system on that drive, the installation should create it for you. It's not clear what you did with the OS, you only mentioned you reformatted. If you moved your operating system to another drive, it may have been using the boot sector from the original drive. Try to provide some additional details. Thank you.

Perhaps you are missing the boot sector on the hard drive now. When you re-install your operating system on that drive, the installation should create it for you. It's not clear what you did with the OS, you only mentioned you reformatted. If you moved your operating system to another drive, it may have been using the boot sector from the original drive. Try to provide some additional details. Thank you.


When I reformatted the drive I used "Wipe Drive" to erase the hard drive and then used the re-install disk that came with the computer to reinstall Windows. I thought I would be able to get the computer the same as if I purchased it new.