Cant boot XP from cd to downgrade from Ubuntu

[crazywizard]

Alrite well,
my pc died a while ago so iv been using this laptop i got from a mate
i wiped XP fro it an put Ubuntu on to try that
When i tried to install ubuntu it wouldent boot from cd but eventualy i got it to create a boot entry so it would boot that way.

any way,
I need to put xp back on it because i have hardware thats xp only
but when ever i try to boot from an XP cd it just starts Ubuntu anyway

i have changed the bios settings to start from cd first but that still dosent work

does any body know how to dodge this problem
or maybe do what ubuntu did to get it working?

i have HP Compaq Presario 2100 (amd)

[ReRun]

Being that it is a Compaq laptop did it still have the restore partition? If so have you tried tapping the F10 key during boot up to see if it will start the recovery options?
If the drive was replaced or completely erased at some point, what type of XP cd are you using and will it boot your mate's pc just to see if the disk is bootable or readable?

[Kevin_gibson]

Does it work by pressing F8 to get a boot menu this way? Rather than using BIOS? Try and hold the letter C down when the laptops boots up with the CD in there. See if it boots from the CD that way.

[Embolism]

use kanotix partition manager,delete existing partition and reformat in fat 32 then hit save,fstab button and when fstab has been completed exit partition manager and restart ,remove kanotix disc and put in windows cd,it should then find and boot windows you may wish to use NTFS partition when it asks for it in set up,this is one way to do it and have done it about 43 times using this method

[Embolism]

next time why not use Kanotix live cd to partition drive load windows and then fedora core 11 and have a dual boot,you have the best of both worlds then as do I,good luck. (:^D)

[EvilGenius124]

What brand/version of bios are you using? IBM? Pheonix?
and Kevin Gibson said, try pressing any of the F* keys (f8, f12, etc) because every computer is different. I am using A Toshiba M115 and the default boot menu is F12.

[Embolism]

please do not ignore what I have just written,have tried both operating systems and have found the same issue as our friend with the compaq,which is why I gave him all info relevant to access,reformat and repartition his drive to a state it will accept windows,Nuff said. -_-
current o/s is fedora 10 upgraded to 11 with windows xp dual boot its all good!!

Kanotix can be found here.
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=kanotix