New IDE drive, consistant 'Disk Boot Failure'

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Jambi80

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I've recently purchased a new IDE hd. Attempting to get my Win XP installed on it, and running into some problems. It skips through the normal loading screens(motherboard screens, no Windows screens), then I run into 'Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter'. Currently, I have my Bios bootup menu set to 1. CD-rom drive (with my XP cd in), 2. IDE Harddrive, and 3. Floppy Drive. The HD is brand new, compatible with MoBo. All the cables are set correctly, all the hardware should be installed correctly.

I'm really not sure what to do, no matter what I try I keep coming across the 'Disk Boot Failure' error. When I first put the computer together, and installed my OS on my old HD, this error never came up, I'm not sure what the difference is now? I'm don't know if I should download a bootup program and put it on a floppy, and boot from that? As stated before, I never had to boot from floppy when I was first building my computer, I don't know what changed that would require it.

I've tried switching up my boot order in bios, 1. Floppy 2. cd-rom (winxp) 3. hd. I've tried disabling the floppy drive on bootup, 1. cd-rom (winxp) 2. hd 3. disabled(floppy). Tried to disconnect the floppy drive all together from the computer. I took the jumper off the HD and tried that. I switched the IDE cable with a brand new one. I tried running XP in a different rom drive. I've done alot, and I still come to the same 'disk boot failure' error. The HD brand IS showing up in bios, as well as the loading screen, so I'm assuming it's not a faulty hd. I don't know what could be the problem though.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
your ram could possible going out....i always got that prob when im using old ram, new ram solved my probs, should fix urs too, if not, then you need dto use the disk that came with the hdd and format it with that, or delete all partions on xp setup, and make a new one. if that dont help, rma the drive, and try a new new one.
 
Jambi80, even though you wrote a lot of stuff, you definitely missed the important things:
1)is your hdd is recognized in the bios?
2) have you actually tried installing winxp on new hdd?
- you know , your new hdd won't bee bootable by itself :)
3) supposing yest to 2), does winxp setup utility (when run from winxp boot cd) actually see your new hdd?
4) are you able to partition your new hdd in winxp sutup?
5) are you still have your old hdd plugged and maybe it's configured as fist boot device ?

In case first 4 questions have positive answer, than after initial winxp installation process, it copies some files to hdd, and then asked to reboot, after than it tried to start from harddisk as it makes it bootable in the initial process.
 
My friend had a HDD that wouldn't format. The "boot from CD" thing came up, but the keyboard wouldn't allow us to enter it - because the HDD was majorly screwed up.

What we had to do, is make a bootable floppy and delete the partition and format it.

You can make a bootable floppy by visiting www.bootdisk.com.

When the blank screen comes up where you can type a command, type:
FDISK
Then you have to navigate through there to create a partition. I can't remember the exact steps - but I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out.

Once you have a partition, type:
format C:
Once it gets done formatting, try to install XP again.
 
Ah thanks for all the replies.

Bmx I don't think my memory is bad. I couldn't say for a fact, but it isn't that old, and I can't really afford to buy new ram at the moment.

Junglemike, yes my HD brand and model is showing up in BIOS. That is what I have been trying to do, installing XP on the drive. I've had my XP cd in the cd-rom, had the boot sequence with 1. cd-rom, then 2. hd. I still get the same 'Disk Boot Failure' error. No matter what, I cannot get any form of XP up to install on my HD. The only HD I currently have in my computer is my new one, that's it. There is nothing else on the cable except for that 1 HD.

CrazeD, I tried out the bootable floppy disks from that site. The first (xpquick.zip) came up with the error 'Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key'. Second file I tried (xpquick.exe), it seems like my computer is getting somewhere, couple of screens flash, then I get a long error 'Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information." I've tried to re-download these programs on different floppys, still with the same problem. My floppy drive is hooked up correctly, and should have no problems with it, it's brand new.

Wicked, heh, I wish I could see a message like that =/ But no, the only message I ever get is 'Disk boot failure'. It's become such a boring message...

Not sure what to say. I've tried so much stuff and nothing seems to work. Like I said before, when I first put the computer together, installing XP on a blank HD was so easy, no problems at all. I'm starting to wonder if the problem lies deeper, which I'm hoping isn't the case.
 
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