Cannot Boot/Install Windows on New Computer

[TychoCelchuuu]

I just built a new computer. ASUS P5B Deluxe motherboard, Intel Core2Duo E6700, EVGA 8800GTS 640MB, 2 gigs Corsair PC6400 DDR2, 500 gigabyte Western Digital SATA hard drive, 16x Memorex DVD drive. The build went fine, and when I boot up,the machine POSTS okay. I'm able to get in to BIOS and change whatever I want (I even updated to the latest BIOS using ASUS's EZBoot 2 thing or whatever).

Unfortunately, whether or not the XP install disc is in my DVD drive, it POSTS normally and then says "Boot and Select Proper Boot Device: Insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key."

The XP disc is in there, and I press a key, but it just pauses for a sec and prints the message again. The BIOS sees the hard drive fine, and I think it sees the DVD drive (it allows me to choose an CD drive in the boot order).

I searched on Google and apparently this has happened to a whole bunch of people for a whole bunch of different reasons, and all the people who have fixed it either don't say what they did or all did something different. Erp?

Here's what I've tried:

Change jumpers on DVD drive from "Master" to "Cable Select"
Plug DVD drive in to second slot on the IDE chain instead of the first
Replace the DVD drive with a CDRW drive that I know works
Change the boot order around (hard drive first, CD drive first, only CD drive)
Restart a whole bunch (heh)
Update motherboard BIOS to latest version
Stare at my computer with an angry look

Does anyone have any idea what's wrong? Any help would definitely be appreciated

 

[montag451]

Occassionally I do work for a place rehabilitating lots of oldish systems.

This problem crops up a lot - sometimes randomly, sometimes on batches.
Most of the time, a new cd/dvd unit fixes the problem.
Changing cables/jumpers doesn't usually do much for this stupporn sobs.
The easiest way round for us is to install a system in a similar system then swap hdd - but this is impractical alot of the time.

If you do find a fix, please post it.
All the best.

Try booting into a live cd of knoppix - see if that does anything.

 

[TychoCelchuuu]

I tried a Windows 98 CD and it didn't work either, so I'm not sure if Knoppix would work since it seems like it's not reading any CD, but I'm downloading an iso now just in case. Thanks for the help.

 

[Harvey]

In most non-SATA setups, an optical burner (CD/DVD) is a Master drive on the second IDE channel. As long as the system recognizes your hard drive as the Master on IDE ch. #1 with the jumper set for CS, it's probably not related to the problem. If you haven't already tried this:

1. Set the jumper for the DVD drive to Master.

2. Plug it into IDE ch. #2 with no other drive on the cable.

3. My preferred boot order is

A. Floppy Disk.

B. Optical (CD/DVD) drive.

C. First hard drive.

I've run into a number of Asus and other boards that don't play well with some ATA drives set to Cable Select, including some hard drives. Even worse, it's sometimes an intermittent problem. As montag451, you may have to try another optical drive.

If that fails, you should test the DVD drive on another system. It's also possible that your motherboard has a defective IDE controller.

Good luck.

 

[TychoCelchuuu]

The DVD is set to master on the second channel of the IDE cable. The hard drive's SATA so it's not connected to the IDE cable at all.

During POST, I have the option of hitting F8 to manually choose a boot device instead of hitting "DEL" to enter the BIOS. When I do this, the list only shows my hard drive. It seems like the problem's with the DVD drive, then, but since the CDRW drive from the other computer worked, I'm not sure what's wrong. Like you said, it might be a defective IDE controller, but before I take the whole thing apart and RMA a mobo that seems otherwise functional I'd like to exhaust every possible option

Update: The Knoppix Live CD didn't work. I still can't get past the "Boot and Select Proper Boot Device: Insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key" prompt.

 

[montag451]

This is a bit different.

If the drive doesn't show in BIOS, then it is most likely one of the following:
the jumper on the back of the drive
the ide cable
the molex
the unit itself.

 

[TychoCelchuuu]

The drive shows up in the BIOS as a CD drive. I'm able to choose it as part of the boot order. The F8 menu is the only place it doesn't show up.

 

[montag451]

I would try that cd unit in another system or try another one in your system before going any further troubleshooting.

 

[TychoCelchuuu]

Okay, for the record and for anyone who has this problem in the future, I FINALLY fixed it. Here's how:

The DVD drive wasn't working for booting, and neither was the CDRW drive that worked in another computer, so eventually I plugged both the DVD drive AND the CDRW in (DVD set to master, CDRW set to slave, DVD in the top part of the IDE cable, CDRW the bottom). I set the JMicron controller to IDE, and it was able to recognize both drives perfectly. Go figure.

Thanks for your help, guys!