Need help with a fresh install of XP

A friend asked me to help with his old HP Pavilion a1213w desktop.
It was running very poorly and sporadically. I spent a couple days cleaning it and eliminating all un-essential Apps and startups, improved, but still not good.
After discussing with him, we agreed to reformat and re-install XP Home.
I've done this MANY times years ago, but haven't messed with XP in awhile.
I have my original XP and key that I agreed to give him (it's not installed anywhere else).
I pulled his HDD and connected it to my Win10 laptop as an external USB drive and performed a quick reformat. Then I tried to bootup the XP CD and I'm getting a message: OS wasn't found. I expected this, but I also expected it to boot to the CD. I get a generic BIOS screen with ESC & F10 options, but It doesn't seen to be responding to the keyboard at all.
Am I overlooking something?
Also, do I need to re-format the drive as bootable? (how can I do that from WIN10 / usb external?)
I seem to recall working on HPs in the past and they had some nuances that made them problematic to deal with. Any pointers?

Thanks!

You need to set the Bios to boot first to the cd.

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I pulled his HDD and connected it to my Win10 laptop as an external USB drive and performed a quick reformat.

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You should have checked if there was a factory restore partition first. That would have reloaded XP to "out of the box" condition.
I'm guessing your friend doesn't have a set of recovery discs either? Those would be the easiest way to reinstall XP.

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Then I tried to bootup the XP CD and I'm getting a message: OS wasn't found.

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Did you make sure the boot order is set to CD/DVD first?

Did you run a hard drive diag? With such an old computer, it's possible the hard drive is going bad. Verify the brand of hard drive, and then run the manufacturer's diags.
The UBCD5 link in my signature has info about hard drive diags.

I can't get it to boot from any discs (I tried the XP install disc and the UBCDS disc).
I also can't get it respond to any keyboard input now, so I can't change the BIOS or boot differently. (the bios was set to boot to CD first, before I reformatted the HDD).
It is an old computer and he said he doesn't have the original boot discs.

Thanks guys, I'm struggling because I haven't worked with XP or reformatted an HDD in a couple years.

Not much you can do without a working keyboard. Try another keyboard, PS/2 and/or USB.

Even if you get XP on there, you're going to have to hunt down all the drivers. That's another reason why the recovery discs are so important.

Thanks! The KB has me stumped, it did work before I started this process, I have it plugged into PS/2 (with a USB adapter), but I'll try the USB as well.
I agree with the recovery discs, that would have been my first choice, but I asked and he doesn't have them.
(I think I have all of the drivers in a backup folder I copied off before re-formatting).

Does HP have any kind of proprietary boot setup?
I'm going to try removing the HDD and re-formatting with my Win10 laptop again tonight, using the Window Key + X to access Disk Management.

If you are going to be installing XP, I would NOT recommend formatting the HD using Windows 10, unless you are going to re-format it again when installing XP. You may run into problems.

That causes problems
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Versions

Any luck with the keyboard issue?

Thanks for asking, yes, I made some progress last night.
For whatever reason, the USB keyboard (even with a PS/2 adapter) wasn't recognized, so I dug up an old PS/2 keyboard.
And the SlipStream WinXP versions wouldn't complete the installs either, I suspect micro-scratches on the CDs, so I reverted to my original WinXP upgrade CD. Unfortunately, that means installing SP1 and SP3 and IE8.
I was able to format the HDD and install XP.

My next obstacle, please help:
When XP started it's setup & config, it said it couldn't install my Internet Connection (?) (I have it hardwired, no Wifi).
After it completed XP install and reboots, I opened IE and was able to go to MSN, eBAY, Google, etc. So I appear to have some kind of Internet connection.
Then I tried going to MS to download and install SP1 and received "The server did not respond".
I tried selecting Windows Update from the start menu and received "The Page cannot be displayed"
I also tried Registering Windows and that failed too.
I tried downloading IE8 on my laptop and copied it to a USB-stick, but when I attempted to load it, I received "iesetup.exe - Entry Point not found"

Am I missing something in the Internet Connection or some kind of configuration?

I'm trying to help my friend, but I'm really beginning to hate working with old hardware and software.

Thanks!

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If your version of XP has no service packs, you can install SP 2 and then SP 3.

If your version of XP has SP 1, SP 1a, or SP 2, you can install SP 3.

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...80da198?auth=1

I have used one of these many a time to fix damaged cd/dvds
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Aleratec-...r-Plus/4858245
Even had Blockbuster work the disks over.

I would suggest downloading the XP Service Packs (SP2 and SP3 - you don't need SP1) on another computer. Get the ones you can make a disc out of (.iso versions) if they are still available. Then make the discs (if you get that version), and install them on the problem computer.

Actually you need at least SP1 first, then you can jump straight to SP3.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/.../cc507836.aspx

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your computer must at least be running Windows XP with Service Pack 1 installed.

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Am I missing something in the Internet Connection or some kind of configuration?

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Make sure there is no proxy enabled in the IE settings.

You should really create .isos of your OS install discs. CD/DVDs can get scratched or just go bad.

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Originally Posted by mptech99

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I pulled his HDD and connected it to my Win10 laptop as an external USB drive and performed a quick reformat. ......!

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Just a quick question from a novice in this field and my question may sound silly or I must have missed something somewhere. But why did you pulled the HDD from his desktop and connect it to your laptop tp reinstall the XP ?
Wouldn't it have been easier to just run your XP OS disk from your friends desktop and install the XP ?

slickcondo -

mptech99 wasn't having any luck booting the install CD on the original desktop computer. Yes it would have been easier to do the install on the desktop PC if that was working. However, attempting to install XP to an external drive using a laptop designed for Windows 10 is likely to have its own issues, including no XP drivers for the laptop hardware and having hardware drivers and a HAL for the laptop installed when you really need the ones for the desktop. It is possible to correct that later, but installing Windows directly on the correct hardware is the preferred method.