XP will not boot after install

[Orzorn]

Alright, just finished putting together my computer, and I get to installing Windows. "Press any key to boot from CD" I do, then setup continues,etc. After the initial setup, it reboots (as it tells me it will). It then gets past the Logo for my motherboard and everything, and gets to "Press any key to boot from CD", now from what Ive read, Im not supposed to press any key, so that it can boot from the Hard Drive. But Ive been waiting here for many minutes, and it will not load. Ive reinstalled Windows multiple times (deleting the old partitions and redoing everything) and it still will not boot XP for the rest of the installation. Help!

 

[biagrin]

have you tried setting the hard drive as the primary boot device?

 

[zabusant]

reset, hold down delete button (del) - wait for the new screen and change the BIOS settings to boot from hard drive first

 

[zabusant]

You can follow this manual, just take care - this shows how to set you pc to boot from the cd, just do it for the harddrive instead

http://www.hiren.info/pages/bios-boot-cdrom

 

[Orzorn]

reset, hold down delete button (del) - wait for the new screen and change the BIOS settings to boot from hard drive first

Nothing now, just the black screen with the cursor blinking. Been waiting for several minutes and nothing is booting.

 

[zabusant]

Press delete right after you restart, don't wait for it to ask you to boot from a cd. And hold it down for a couple of seconds (ignore if it starts bipping)

 

[zabusant]

Ohhh, is it a Dell? If so, try holding F2!

 

[zabusant]

And take the CD out, if you haven't yet!

 

[biagrin]

have you set the jumpers on the hdd correctly?

 

[Orzorn]

I can enter the BIOS, thats not the problem. What I meant when I said "It just stays black" is that after the option to enter BIOS appears (then disappears after waiting for 10 seconds) it just goes to a black screen and does not boot Windows (or attempt to,apparently) if I have my Hard Drive set to boot first. As I said earlier, if I have my DVD drive set to boot first, then it will get stuck on "press any key to boot from CD" and will not attempt to boot my half-installed XP.

 

[Orzorn]

have you set the jumpers on the hdd correctly?

I believe so, as BIOS reads both drives (HDD and DVD Drive) and I can setup the first part of Windows. My problem is that after it reboots after the initial setup, it will just read out the same "press any key to boot from CD" message and not attempt to boot Windows to continue the setup process.

 

[zabusant]

So have you entered BIOS? And can't you change the setting? Sorry if I misinterpreted your answer!

 

[Orzorn]

So have you entered BIOS? And can't you change the setting?

I can change the setting (as in, I can change the boot order of the HDD and the DVD Drive). If I dont have the XP install disk in, both boot orders (HDD then DVD, or DVD then HDD) lead to a blank screen after all the regular messages (note, I can enter BIOS, that is not what I mean by "blank screen". This "blank screen" is after all the messages and BIOS boot ups and whatnot). If I have the XP disk in when I have DVD set to boot first then I will get the message "press any key to boot from CD", which is not what I need because if I do boot from the CD then ill go through the setup process all over again (which then leads to reboot, then to the same screen). If I have my disk in and have HDD set to boot first, then as before, I get a blank screen and no XP boot.

 

[zabusant]

Oh, I see. Then I think it must be a problem with the HDD. Perhaps you should try another copy of windows, if you can get your hands on it - so you can rule software out.

 

[Orzorn]

Ok,I put in a different Hard Drive, this one actually has a copy of windows on it, but if I just let it boot up, it says it has problems (probably because it is not yet configured for this computer system yet). I suspect if I am to configure it, I would need to use the repair console?

Edit:Im repairing the hard drive using the repair function in the XP setup. Ill report back later if anything worth note happens.