could not boot the computer due to configuration problem

Question

I have Dell Inspiron 9300 which has window xp home edition os installed before. I installed window 2003 server in the computer. I forgot the password. So I can’t login in the Windows 2003 server. I put my windows 2003 cd into the Cd rom. it did not reformat the harddrive. I could not boot the window xp home edition , too. It gave me the following error message: window could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected book disk. Check boot path and disk hard Please check the windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information. I started the computer Windows Server 2003 as backup recover mode according to some instruction over the internet. I can’t login in as machine administration. It kept giving me password not correct message. I never set up admin password. I am trying to recover from a problem using the recovery console. It asks for an Administrator password, but I have never set this up. Any suggestions appreciated. According to some suggestion for There is a problem with using the Recovery console if Windows was installed from a sysprep image, as it is with a preinstalled copy. But it need floppy disk. But I do not have floppy driver. I do not know how to fix this problem. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q308402 I do not want to buy any other computer. I just want to fix it to use. Since I do not have window xp home edition any more, I just want to use a computer. I want to install my window xp profession version.While I put the window xp profession in the CD drive. It could not boot, too. I tried to use ctrl+F11 to restore the system file. I did not work. Thanks.

ejn63 · Answer

Start by verifying the integrity of the drive. Power on, F12, Dell diagnostics, extended test, hard drive. What happened when you booted the XP CD and tried to repartition the drive?

Storage, Drives & Media

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