I have a desktop PC. It was giving me some real annoyances which I didn't seem able to find any help for, and it'd been two years since Windows was first installed on it, so I figured now as as good a time as any to do a bit of serious cleanup. First I backed up everything I would want from my main hard drive on one of my storage drives, and then I went to work.
First I formatted the hard drive with a boot CD utility I have, and that went fine. Then I began the process of installing windows; creating a new partition and then the actual installation. The first time through, things actually went ok, until I actually got into Windows itself. (Note: This first time I attempted using a burnt ISO I had tooled with using NLite because I thought it would be cool to do and worth a shot.) Windows was not functioning very well; I tried to install some Drivers and such, but ended up getting some errors and then when I restarted I was faced with a "DISK BOOT FAILURE" or some such message; I attributed these problems to me fooling around with the ISO with NLite and decided I was probably better off just using a full install and living with those annoying processes.
So I format the drive again (that DISK BOOT error seems to prevent a lot of other things from functioning), then using an unmodified install CD I proceed to try to install Windows once more. It seemed ok for the most part, but then when I went to install drivers for my motherboard (DFI NF3 Lanparty UT) I was faced with some sort of pseudo-BSOD regarding some sort of .sys (I think) file which I google to find out is some sort of error ocurring on NF3 chipsets regarding some sort of Ethernet Firewall, or something else. I also fail to find any real solution to this, so I figure I'll start over again. Not like I made much progress anyway.
So I have to format yet again, as the .sys error seems to interrupt the windows install, and I go for it once more. This time the installation goes through ok, and I leave the drivers alone initially to see if other things are working. I restart and am given the "DISK BOOT" error again, which prevents me from actually entering windows again short of placing the system disk in the optical drive every time I hope to restart, which I'm not going to put up with.
From there I attempt to install windows a few more times, I try different install discs I create from my laptop, yet every time the "BOOT DISK" error is present. The precise error I see is this:
Which appears shortly after I see my DFI Mobo's splash screen, and I might mention I do have access to CMOS and whatnot. I've tried re-ordering boot priority, but it appears to have no effect really.
Currently my CMOS settings are set to slightly modified "Fail Safe Defaults," and I was able to update my BIOS via the WinFlasher utility from DFI's site using one of my slightly broken windows installs, but after that I was permanently stuck in "DISK BOOT FAILURE" screen, and had to enter CMOS and tool around a little bit to get it to read disks 'properly.' So, as of right now, I'm currently formatting the drive yet again and hoping for some different results now that the BIOS of the mobo has been updated. (I reasoned that since it probably wasn't a problem with every windows disk I try, and there's not much else there currently which could actually cause an issue, this is one thing that may have some effect.)
I guess I'm not even sure that I have any questions yet, seeing as this post is still quite the work in progress. But if anyone has any advice if I'm doing anything wrong or anything else to try, I'd welcome it. Plus it feels good just to write it out
First I formatted the hard drive with a boot CD utility I have, and that went fine. Then I began the process of installing windows; creating a new partition and then the actual installation. The first time through, things actually went ok, until I actually got into Windows itself. (Note: This first time I attempted using a burnt ISO I had tooled with using NLite because I thought it would be cool to do and worth a shot.) Windows was not functioning very well; I tried to install some Drivers and such, but ended up getting some errors and then when I restarted I was faced with a "DISK BOOT FAILURE" or some such message; I attributed these problems to me fooling around with the ISO with NLite and decided I was probably better off just using a full install and living with those annoying processes.
So I format the drive again (that DISK BOOT error seems to prevent a lot of other things from functioning), then using an unmodified install CD I proceed to try to install Windows once more. It seemed ok for the most part, but then when I went to install drivers for my motherboard (DFI NF3 Lanparty UT) I was faced with some sort of pseudo-BSOD regarding some sort of .sys (I think) file which I google to find out is some sort of error ocurring on NF3 chipsets regarding some sort of Ethernet Firewall, or something else. I also fail to find any real solution to this, so I figure I'll start over again. Not like I made much progress anyway.
So I have to format yet again, as the .sys error seems to interrupt the windows install, and I go for it once more. This time the installation goes through ok, and I leave the drivers alone initially to see if other things are working. I restart and am given the "DISK BOOT" error again, which prevents me from actually entering windows again short of placing the system disk in the optical drive every time I hope to restart, which I'm not going to put up with.
From there I attempt to install windows a few more times, I try different install discs I create from my laptop, yet every time the "BOOT DISK" error is present. The precise error I see is this:
Which appears shortly after I see my DFI Mobo's splash screen, and I might mention I do have access to CMOS and whatnot. I've tried re-ordering boot priority, but it appears to have no effect really.
Currently my CMOS settings are set to slightly modified "Fail Safe Defaults," and I was able to update my BIOS via the WinFlasher utility from DFI's site using one of my slightly broken windows installs, but after that I was permanently stuck in "DISK BOOT FAILURE" screen, and had to enter CMOS and tool around a little bit to get it to read disks 'properly.' So, as of right now, I'm currently formatting the drive yet again and hoping for some different results now that the BIOS of the mobo has been updated. (I reasoned that since it probably wasn't a problem with every windows disk I try, and there's not much else there currently which could actually cause an issue, this is one thing that may have some effect.)
I guess I'm not even sure that I have any questions yet, seeing as this post is still quite the work in progress. But if anyone has any advice if I'm doing anything wrong or anything else to try, I'd welcome it. Plus it feels good just to write it out
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