You push the power button on the front of your PC. The sun is shining, you have your coffee fresh and ready, and you're ready to begin your day. All of a sudden, you see a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), officially known as a Stop error before your operating system kicks in. What should you do?
If you are at work, you should leave the work to your administrator, but if this happens at home, there are many ways to fix this problem. One of them is using a boot disc.
What exactly is a boot disc? A boot disc can be used to boot your computer in case your computer has an issue. The reason why your Windows XP CD might not be of help is because you might have a hardware problem. First, try booting from your CD and repairing Windows. If that doesn't work, there might be a hardware problem, and a boot disc is your next option.
There are many boot discs around, and they can fit on floppy discs, CDs, and DVDs. You need to decide which is best for you. If you have a floppy drive, it is recommended you try booting from a floppy disc first. If that doesn't work, a bootable CD will work, and finally a DVD.
First, we will create a bootable floppy disc. If you have Windows 9x or Windows Me, click here for instructions on how to create a bootable floppy disc. If you have Windows 2000, you can go here to receive instructions on how to create a bootable floppy disc. If you have Windows XP (Home or Professional), you can go here to receive instructions on how to create a bootable floppy disc.
To create a bootable CD, click here to create the Ultimate Boot CD, which I use and highly recommend. You may use any method you wish in getting the image to the CD (ISO, EXE, or ZIP). As you can see, there are a lot of tools that are on the CD.
DVDs aren't recommended unless a floppy or a CD won't work. To make a bootable DVD, go to the link above to the Ultimate Boot Disc website and follow the instructions. Burn the files to a DVD instead.
First, you need to set your BIOS to boot from the floppy drive or CD drive before your hard drive. To do that, you need to watch carefully when you press the power button. You may need to press DEL, F1, F2, F10, or another key to enter your PC's setup program.
You have to watch carefully, because things can go fast. Once you know the key, press it, and you should be directed to your PC's setup program. Once you're here, you might need to do a little searching to find the boot sequence or boot order. Once you find it, select it, and move the floppy drive (if you're using a floppy disc), the CD drive (if you're using a CD), or the DVD drive (if you're using a DVD) in front of the hard drive, preferably first. Then, after you've fixed the problem, you can return here and change the settings back to their defaults. Once that is done, you can exit the Setup program (make sure to save the settings!) and restart your computer.
Have the floppy, CD, or DVD in the drive that you want to use in place and ready to go when you restart your computer. If you've done everything right, you should boot to your chosen media and you can work from there.
If you are using the Ultimate Boot Disc, there are tools that you can use to wipe your hard drive, clone your hard drive, partition your hard drive, and monitor the health of your PC components. Sometimes, you can find the problem, and if you can't fix it yourself, you can go and get the proper assistance.
Some bootable CDs such as Knoppix have operating systems on them. Knoppix has Linux on it, and it is very easy to use.
As you can see, bootable discs can save your computer and a lot of money since you can get right to the problem. Make one today!
