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On an old PC ~2007 running Windows XP I overwrote with my Windows 7 disk and then found out that I shouldn't do that. It's on my newer PC. There are no files on the HD and would like to wipe Windows 7 off, so I tried Ubuntu as an alternative OS, but I can't get a USB or DVD to boot. I downloaded Xubuntu 20.04 and created a live USB with Rufus (and Universal USB Installer) got into the BIOS (the first time for me) set First Boot Device to USB-FDD (there is also USB-ZIP and USB-CDROM) it just boots into Windows every time. I have tried every USB port, I burned a DVD and had CD-ROM as the first boot, but it still boots into Windows. I have tried 3 USB sticks. After Windows has loaded C: drive is 16.8GB free of 76.3GB and E: drive is showing Linux Mint 5.46GB of 7.44.

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All I want is a basic PC that I can connect to the web / email, etc. I am obviously doing something really stupid, but I can't work out what.

karel
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Hippy
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3 Answers3

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For any total system rebuild, you should start by clearing CMOS and resetting BIOS settings to manufacturers default. See Computer won't power off for instructions. This alone could fix your boot problem but in your case, I doubt it. It is still a good thing to start with.

Next, if available, you should upgrade your BIOS to the latest. It might be your manufacturer released versions that can boot more modern devices.

Next, check in CMOS Setup and/or using the "boot menu" hot-key during Power-on Selftest (POST) to see what devices your motherboard can see. In your case, USB-CD, ZIP, and floppy are not encouraging. Not many folk have USB zips or floppy drives these days.

But USB-CD might work, provided the media is an actual bootable Compact Data Disk format. I am guessing, with a BIOS as old as yours, it would not recognize a DVD format even the reader supported it. You could try using Rufus to format a CD-R (if you can find one).

Finally, failing everything else (and this is probably the simplest solution), perhaps you can attach an IDE/ATA CDROM drive to the system and boot from that.

Frobozz
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  • Re-sized pic, hopefully readable now, boot menu hot key is f11 and have tried booting from this, but doesn't show usb, only hdd, floppy or cdrom. I will try wiping and reset CMOS and see what happens. If 1 gb of ram was enough to run XP ( I was into games, eg c/strike) and its running win7 surely it will run a light OS? – Hippy Dec 15 '20 at 21:27
  • I have updated the main answer. I don't think clearing CMOS is going to help with booting at this point. Pretty certain it is the age of your BIOS we are dealing with. But it is a good idea to perform a CMOS reset when you are rebuilding a system so you don't carry "fleas" forward to your systems next incarnation. – Frobozz Dec 15 '20 at 22:58
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I recommend going into sub menu of hard-disk boot priority and moving the hard disk down (if you haven't already) to the very bottom. This should move the other devices up.

You should also check if there is anywhere on the bios that allows you to do Legacy boot if you can't do that. Sometimes that makes a difference.

Penguino
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  • I have loaded "optimized defaults" into cmos. bios now shows "first boot device" as floppy, there are 8 options, Floppy/ LS120/ Hard Disk/ CDROM/ Zip100/ USB-FDD/ USB-Zip/ and USB-CDROM Set USB-FDD as first boot. Second boot/ same options, USB-ZIP. Third boot I set USB-cdrom. Boot other device I have disabled. Insert usb and restart. Now have "Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter" at least win7 isn't loading! F11 shows boot menu of "Floppy/ Hard disk or CDROM. Shall I give up? How do I earth myself on the case to remove battery? – Hippy Dec 16 '20 at 08:43
  • "Boot other device" might need to be enabled in order for this to work. Sometimes it doesn't detect the USB normally. – Penguino Dec 26 '20 at 08:25
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Sorted, reinstalled XP from original disk, (proved to me it will boot from disk) then made a new 32 fat partion and cleared the hard drive with the XP disk in of all Wins. Burnt and installed (from CD) Puppy linux and after a few reinstalls / boots/ saves/ head banging/ etc I have now got a working PC that boots from the hard drive and connects safely to the internet for the web browsing I wanted.

Thanks to all who commented and helped.

(I have just been given an old laptop with broken XP, my next foray into the inner workings!)

Hippy
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