New HD, how do I install XP?

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White_Wolf

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So I finally got that new 250GB hard drive. Now here's the problem:
How do I get Windows XP on it?

Both my new and old drives are ATA100 IDE.

My first attempt was to set the jumpers to master, and hook it up as my master. I figured it'd be as simple as popping in the winXP CD. But when I booted my computer all I got was the error "Operation system not found"

So I used a CD called Ultimate Boot CD, it had been a life saver for me when installing Win98 on somebodies dead system. But I got the same error; it wouldn't recognize the CD-ROM.

It seems that my BIOS recognizes my floppy drive, and both hard drives, but not my CD-ROM. Does this mean I need a BIOS upgrade?

So I installed DOS on it. Now I have a DOS prompt, but DOS won't recognize that I have a CD-ROM

The last, and almost successful thing I done was use an old win98 startup disc that RAMdrive on it. This contained CD-ROM drivers and stuff, and enabled me to access my CD-ROM through a DOS prompt.

But The Ultimate Boot CD (which contains a cool partitioning program) wouldn't start. I couldn't find the magic file to make it load up and do its thing. All I could find was a non-executable AUTORUN "inf" file.

So I decided to use the WinXP CD itself. But when I type in "setup.exe" it tells me it cannot run in DOS mode.

I am at my wits end! Help me!

Another thing. Concerning my drive positions. I want my new 250GB HD to be my Primary Master. But I want to keep the old one hooked up so that I can copy files from it, and maybe even use it as a pagefile, or possibly even install a separate OS on it. So do I make it the Primary Slave, or the Secondary Master?
 
~Go to the BIOS and make sure that the CD-ROM is fist on the boot
~Then you put a type of FDisk or Boot disk in.... Restart the computer...
~When the computer boots up the fdisk... take it to the prompt
~At the prompt type fdisk (if your using a fdisk) type Fdisk
~Use Opt. 3 to Delete Partitions
~Use Opt. 1 to Create Partitions
ESC to the propt and format C:
And Roll with your OS disk...
 
Just got through doing all that: same thing.

It doesn't matter whether I use large capacity or not, I can create a partition, but I can't get my computer to recognize my CD-ROM unless I use RAMdrive to create a temporary drive and deposit CD-ROM drivers.

After creating a temporary drive, I can access my CD-ROM, but no CD will do an autorun. and I can't figure out how to make the "self loading" CD load. And again, regardless of whether I am installing XP or win98, selecting any exe file on those disks tells me that it can't be ran in DOS mode.

I just remembered something. I had this problem once before when I had to format my hard drive due to a virus. This CD-Rom (CD drive, burner, writer, whatever) would not run without windows, and I had to use someone else's CD-ROM.

Maybe I have to change the jumpers on that thing or something (it didn't originally come with this computer).
 
He's doing a clean install, so he can't check device manager =P.

Have you tried the jumpers yet? And already tried to set the cd-rom to boot first in boot screen?
 
TKF,
When you say "device manager" Do you mean Device Manager within Windows, or the boot priority menu in my BIOS?

My CD-ROM shows up in my Windows Device Manager. It says it's functioning properly. I've used it to read and write CD's. So I know it's working (at least when windows is loaded).

My Boot Device Priority looks like this:
-HARD DRIVE
Quantum Firball lct20 30- (PM)
Bootable Add-in Cards

ATAPI CD-ROM

-REMOVABLE DEVICES
Legacy Floppy Drives

NETWORK BOOT

I find it odd that under "HARD DRIVE" it lists my actual hard drive, but it doesn't list the name of my CD-ROM; just the CD-ROM device.

My CD-ROM is samsung cd-r/rw sw-212b

My BIOS is Phoenix BIOS 4.0 build 6.0.A

carnageX,
Yes I've put my ATAPI CD-ROM device as first priority. I've also placed it as second priority too because someone told me it will skip past the cd-rom if I put it first. So I put it in both places and doesn't change anything.

And no, I haven't played with the jumpers because I have no idea what to set it to. I know nothing about jumpers except for the little diagram on the front of my new Western Digital Hard Drive.
 
set your jumper to cs or master on the cd rom.

if that don't work post back. I show you how to do it within windows.

I personally would keep the 1st hdd for windows and move my documents to the second drive and use it as a storage device. this way you can keep your data in case you ever need to reinstall windows
 
I was finally able to do it.

it appears my computer will not boot off of this CD-ROM regardless of how set things and regardless of jumpers.

So I ended up downloading a a free program from Microsoft that fits onto 6 floppy disks. It allows computers that can't boot from a CD-ROM to setup XP from a CD-ROM.

Now I've spent the past 4 or 5 hours trying to set up my new system. I haven't slept in... forever.

Oh, and EricB, the reason I wanted my new hard drive to host my OS is because it runs at 7200 RPM's and has a 8MB cache. My old hard drive runs at 4500 RPM's with a 256KB cache. And I just wanted a clean, fresh, install on windows.
 
I was finally able to do it.

it appears my computer will not boot off of this CD-ROM regardless of how set things and regardless of jumpers.

So I ended up downloading a a free program from Microsoft that fits onto 6 floppy disks. It allows computers that can't boot from a CD-ROM to setup XP from a CD-ROM.

Now I've spent the past 4 or 5 hours trying to set up my new system. I haven't slept in... forever.

Oh, and EricB, the reason I wanted my new hard drive to host my OS is because it runs at 7200 RPM's and has a 8MB cache. My old hard drive runs at 4500 RPM's with a 256KB cache. And I just wanted a clean, fresh, install on windows.

that's cool
 
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