cant format c disk cause wont boot from cd-drive

[baz]

help,
i am tryin to format the c drive,
and re-install win xp pro..
but thats not so easy when i cant boot from xp cd.
i get the
"media failure, check cable
exiting intel boot agent" message..

so i tryed paragon partition magic to format c.
it went into reboot and was suppose to start formatting c..
what happened was that it tryed to startup normally, then stopped with this message:
"NTLDR is missing
press ctrl+alt+del to restart"

after i tryed all options with boot sequences after typing f2 or f12 in startup and every other option i could get to work in this amputated mode, i am now unable to boot from cd, and i am unable to startup win xp normally or in safe mode..
how can i get on with it and totally format c drive, and get to install a fresh copy of win xp?
please help
bazis

[catchsym]

Hello there,

From your question, i can firmly conclude your cdrom (or any optical drive) is not working.
But first you need to check in your bios whether its detecting the cd drive, if its not detecting then u may need to change or attach the ide cable that connects that connects the rom & the motherboard. If its getting detected in the bios, u will need to replace your optical drive.

thanks

[MidiMagic]

The BIOS might be set to not boot from the CD. Check the setting.