I've got an old pentium IV system to "salvage" for my auntie (no I'm not joking), unfortunately the problem is that it simply will not boot any system drive whatsoever.
Mehanically there isn't anything wrong with it, but it completely skips all boot drives and goes into windows... which is a wreck and won't even load in safemode. It has boot priorities, which might as well be BIOS decoration. It does not even go to the point where it would be checking the drive to see if there is an installation disk or flash drive inserted.
It will not run a windows installation drive from a CD and it will not run from USB, it simply is as if they don't exist. And yes, these options are present in the boot menu, but the bios doesn't have the option of manually selecting the the boot drive upon launch.
I would like to emphasize that I have done this dozens of times already and I have always managed to boot with either one medium or the other. I have also checked the functionality of the components and aside from the removed floppy drive, everything is working!
How could I salvage the situation, or should I start looking towards the trash bin and scold my aunt for being a pack rat?
Mehanically there isn't anything wrong with it, but it completely skips all boot drives and goes into windows... which is a wreck and won't even load in safemode. It has boot priorities, which might as well be BIOS decoration. It does not even go to the point where it would be checking the drive to see if there is an installation disk or flash drive inserted.
It will not run a windows installation drive from a CD and it will not run from USB, it simply is as if they don't exist. And yes, these options are present in the boot menu, but the bios doesn't have the option of manually selecting the the boot drive upon launch.
I would like to emphasize that I have done this dozens of times already and I have always managed to boot with either one medium or the other. I have also checked the functionality of the components and aside from the removed floppy drive, everything is working!
How could I salvage the situation, or should I start looking towards the trash bin and scold my aunt for being a pack rat?
