machine wont boot unless xp cd in drive

[DarkTXKnight]

hi all,

Ok I have just built a machine for work to burn DVD's :

AMD XP 2500
Epox EP- 8RDA+ board (nforce-2)
120 GB WD HDD
512 MB DDR
Sony DRU-500 AX DVD Writer

All of the assembly went fine, and when I loaded XP everything seems ok, but then after I rebooted later I get and invalid system disk in the bios . Thinking that some windows update toasted the install I go ahead and reload everything. When this later happens again I notice that it seems to happen after removing the windows XP cd. To test this theory, I put it back in the machine and voila! it boots.... this has never happened on any other loads and Im not doing anything different - if anyone knowns how to resolve this Id be grateful!!!!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ichinisan]

Well, the XP CD works as a boot-loader for your HD if you don't "Press any key to enter setup..." Perhaps there is something wrong with the boot sector of your hard drive.

In Windows, right-click the C: drive, choose "Properties", click the "Tools" tab and choose "Check Now..."
Schedule a scan for the next time you boot the computer (choose both options).
Reboot with the CD still inserted and allow the scan to complete.

If the scan does not fix the boot sector, there is a command you can run from the recovery console to re-write it. The recovery console can be accessed by booting to the XP disc (press a key).

I don't remember the command right now...anybody?

 

[Goose77]

did u change the drive that the computer boots from in bios. you could still be bootin from your cd-rom??????

 

[stncttr908]

Originally posted by: Goose77
did u change the drive that the computer boots from in bios. you could still be bootin from your cd-rom??????

That sounds too logical, but you know, that's sometimes the right answer.

 

[Ichinisan]

In a *normal* configuration the system first checks to see if the CD-ROM contains a bootable disc, then moves on to other drives. Yours might not be looking for any other devices. Check your BIOS/CMOS boot configuration.

 

[DarkTXKnight]

nope guys I already went through the easy stuff.... DVD is the first to be checked in bios and the HDD-0, the HD is correctly setup as first device on chain etc. I am leaning towards this boot sector issue you speak of, which then makes me wonder if I should return the drive even if I could recreate the sector. This is a brand new 7200 rpm 8mb cache WD 120 GB drive ordered from newegg.

 

[Viper96720]

What does the bios report the hard drive size as? Got a floppy with anything in it? Format the hard drive and reinstall windows.

 

[NesuD]

boot off the cd then from the repair console run fixboot to rewrite the boot sector.

 

[DarkTXKnight]

well something else i have noticed is that when i started installing XP the screen seems to sit at detecting IDE devices for a long time, maybe 45 seconds or more, then finds all drives and continues to boot. I have put in another HDD and it detected thatsecond, older disk much faster and continued to boot odd huh?

 

[DarkTXKnight]

@##$ !!!!!!! thats it....... I was just now looking at the jumpers and there is a setting for single no master and single with slave and i had it set to single with slave, rebooted mahcine and it boots!!!!!! thanks broadkipa and all who helped.... everything looks normal now