Trying to reformat my computer?

Question

As the topic says, I'm trying to reformat my computer. I've never done this before either... I guess I'll try to explain.

It all happened when I was trying to get audio to work on sites like Youtube. Somebody told me to install CCleaner, which I did. I ran the program and thought everything was fine. I finished doing what I was doing and shut the computer down for the night.

Next day I started it up & my desktop image was replaced with something telling me to download antivirus 2008 or something like that. Then I started to browse the net and everything i searched in google got redirected. Soon after a timer popped up and when it got to zero it shut my computer down.

That's when I backed-up all of my files and found my Windows XP CD. I put it in my CD-Rom drive and it read it. Then I restarted the computer and it didn't prompt me to push a certain button to boot the CD.

So that's basically where I am. I know how to do the reformatting, I just can't get my Windows XP CD to boot.

Can anybody help me out?

Edit- I forgot to mention that now when I boot up my computer it gives me this error message, "lphcl4m0evf7.exe - corrupt file. The file or directory C:\DOCUME~1\LOCALS~1\TEMP.tt2a.tmp is corrupt & unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility." And soon thereafter my computer will freeze.

Answer 1

Enter Bios pushing F8.

Answer 2

you have to check your bios first.. check if the first boot is your cdrom and if not, try to change it to your cdrom, if it still doesn't work, maybe your computer is an OEM version... if not then its in your BIOS...  

Answer 3

Check your bios and see that the cd drive boots before the hd .

Make sure the cd is clean from any debris  

Answer 4

Reformatting is a serious process and shouldn't be attempted unless absolutely necessary. Try system restore - it's effective and much less of a hassle. Go to start>all programs>accessroies> system tools> system restore. Then simply set a date you wish to "turn back time to", The computer will restart and then provide you with a message saying the restore was complete. Everything should now be back to normal. (Make sure you set the restore date to a day before the problem occured)

Note: System restore should fix your corrupt file problem. Good luck, if you have any questions just ask.

In reply to your comment:

I see, I have had this problem before, my computer starts up but then freezes. The problem lied within the hardware. The power supply (which supplies power to all components is only partially working. If it fails it will freeze the computer. If it is not working at all the computer won't even boot. In my case it was flickering on and off sometimes working for a few hours - other times I wasn't able to get past the Windows xp loading screen. I believe that may be your problem - purchase a new power supply and if you know how to install it, by all means do so. If not, take it to your local computer store and ask them to put it in for you (you'll have to pay them of course). If you want I can tell you how to install the power supply. Buy a generic power supply as they are cheap - just incase that isn't the problem. And even if you have brought a power supply that is uneeded, it will be useful in the future when you need a replacement. Anyway if this does work use my previous instructions and system restore. NOTE: Whilst this is true, your problem may be totally unrelated. Don't quote me on this being definite but it sounds quite similiar to a PS issue. Glad to Help.