will not start in normal???

[dimmortalmaster]

Ok I just switched my hard drive to a new computer but it will only boot in safe mode , therefore cannot add new hardware . when i choose normal i am left with a black screen and unusable cursor . What is wrong with me ???? I'm still learning so this is just 1 of my many problems . If you can help please do so ,,Thanks.

[Midknyte]

you need to give specifics. if you moved a winxp drive to another system, you gotta do a repair install.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[dimmortalmaster]

well the computer was most likely running win 98 before but the hard drive was bad so i had no info to start with, i replaced it with an old hd that ran win me . i could not upgrade to win xp pro because the d:/ drive was not found and i could not access the hardware wizard... i could only access the a:/ drive i was just trying to make the thing run decent for my kid and i fell on my face.. any help appreciated......

[missiveusa]

Boot the PC with the Windows floppy disk in the A drive. At the A: prompt type fdisk.exe, key ENTER. Now follow the prompts to format the HDD. Once finished, run the Windows CD and do a clean install.

Fdisk how to page might be useful.

[AllGamer]

If it starts in SAFE MODE is not all that bad

it just means you only need to get a new HAL layer.

Just re-install Win98 on top of itself either in safe mode or normal install.

It will automatically upgrade the current installation already in the HDD.

[dimmortalmaster]

i would reinstal 98 but no longer have it i have the new xp disk and no floppys . if i remember correctly i can get the boot disks online correct? thanks to everybody that helped ..

[Midknyte]

you boot from the xp cd to run the setup. the only time you would use floppies is if the computer can't boot to cd. unless your computer is super old, it should boot from cd.

[dimmortalmaster]

yeah when i try to boot up it doesnt find the cd drive and when i search for new hardware it wont let me because of the safe mode????????

[Midknyte]

make sure your bios boot order is set to cd first. you also need to press a key when the system boots from cd. "press any key"

if you got to safe mode, you already missed it.

[dimmortalmaster]

thats what i was lookin for !!!!!your the man midknyte!!!
I had thought i messed it up when i put a new cd drive in it...
thanks alot mid!!!