XP Home SP2 only can start with boot CD

[galbicake]

I just built a new computer and I installed XP Home.

However, when I power up or restart, the computer asks for the boot CD rather than loading up XP directly.

I tried to disable to the boot devices (CD) but it still needs to read the boot CD...

Any thoughts?

 

[jlbenedict]

tell us more about your hard drives?

Are they on a raid controller? Or on the native chipset's IDE primary connection?

 

[galbicake]

Sorry,

It is just one WD 160 gb SATA HD I have in there. It was a new so I set up a clean reformat once I installed XP with a partition. RAID is 0 I believe since it's just one...

It's a Sempron 3000 939. The motherboard is a microatx Biostar. I installed the drivers for the mobo.

Thoughts?

 

[duragezic]

I had the same problem that started happening one day. Of course, it took me a few days before I realized just having the XP cd in the drive but not letting it boot from it made the computer boot at least!

So read my thread and see if that helps. I ended up finding in my BIOS that it was trying to boot from a 2nd/non-bootable hard drive (but this wouldn't be your case because you have only one) but there might be something in there that would help you.


One thing, if you only have one hard drive, how can you be running RAID 0? Disable all RAID stuff in the BIOS if you aren't using any. I'm guessing you just need to poke around the BIOS to make sure it tried booting from your SATA (default might be IDE or something?) drive.

 

[Nolonemo]

Since your sig says you have 2 seagates in your box, I suspect the hard drive priority (different but in the same area as the bood device priority) in the bios is set with your non-OS drive at the top.

On the IDE/SATA mobos I've had, the IDE channels are 0 and 1, and the SATA channel is 2, so the bios default is to look at the SATA drive last for booting. So you have to move the SATA drive up to the top in the hard drive priority settings in the bios so it looks at that drive first.

 

[bruceb]

If you find the cd is not in the drive then do:

Boot from the windows XP CD, press the "R" key in the setup in order to start the restoration console. Select your windows XP installation from the list, and enter the administrator password.
Enter the command: "FIXMBR" (without the quotes) at the input prompt and confirm the next question with a "Y" (without the quotes). Use exit to restore the computer.

 

[galbicake]

Sorry for the confusion. My rig on my signature is for my primary computer. It was working fine until I blew out my mobo (another story...)

This is for my HTPC which is not described in my signature. I only have 1 HD on it. As for RAID 0, I am pretty sure I am wrong on this since I do have only 1 HD. I thought RAID 0 is the default.

Duragezic's problem is the same as mine, except my 1 HD is set up as the master in the BIOS.

Verifying DMI Pool Data
Boot from CD:

Press any key to boot from the cd


Except that I don't press a key to boot from the cd, so it times out, and boots XP normally! All it needs is a CD in the drive that I ignore and don't boot from (just let the message time out) and it boots without the eror!

Not sure what is going on, one other thing is that the load/boot time is extremely long. Is this due to the fact that I have less RAM in there? I think I have 512mb of RAM.

Sorry guys, I am a newbie to computer building...

 

[Nolonemo]

You could also try and see if a repair install fixes things (just a wild guess). Boot from the CD, and go through the install process, at some point it will tell you there is an existing install of XP on your machine and give you the option to do a clean install (wiping out all your settings, etc) or to do a repair install (which keeps your existing settings)

 

[galbicake]

Good suggestion. I was planning on doing that tonight.

 

[bruceb]

You do not need to do a Repair Install ... just follow these steps:

Boot from the windows XP CD, press the "R" key in the setup in order to start the restoration console.
Select your windows XP installation from the list, and enter the administrator password. (if you did not set one, it is blank)
Enter the command: "FIXMBR" (without the quotes) at the input prompt and confirm the next question with a "Y" (without the quotes).
Use exit to restore the computer.


This will fix the problem you are having and should only take you about 2-3 minutes at most

 

[galbicake]

okay, can you explain why this is happening and how to prevent it?

 

[bruceb]

All I can say is the Boot Record is messed up .. the procedure listed is Easy to Do
and will correct the Boot Record ... I have used it before and it did the trick .. same
type of problem that you have

Post back when you have results

 

[postmortemIA]

perhaps you need to make 1st partition active. otherwise disk isn't bootable.

 

[galbicake]

Both partitions are active. The first one carries the OS...

I'll follow your advice bruceb, thanks!

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: galbicake
Both partitions are active. The first one carries the OS...

I'll follow your advice bruceb, thanks!

I don't think you know what you are talking about.

First, there is only one active drive per hard drive. Installing OS doesn't make it active.

Second, RAID0 requires 2 disks.

 

[galbicake]

Right, I already established that I do not know what I am talking about. That is why I am on this forum asking for advice.

I think I will try Bruceb's tip since he claims to have experienced the same problem.

Thanks!

 

[postmortemIA]

Good, just let us know if that helped.

Along FIXMBR you can type FIXBOOT.

 

[mechBgon]

This thread belongs in the Motherboards area The motherboard's boot-device priority list needs another look. Either it needs the HDD moved up the list, or it needs the HDD list itself looked at, or both. What exact Biostar motherboard is it, galbicake?

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
This thread belongs in the Motherboards area The motherboard's boot-device priority list needs another look. Either it needs the HDD moved up the list, or it needs the HDD list itself looked at, or both. What exact Biostar motherboard is it, galbicake?

I think mech is right, because you're getting that prompt. If Bruce's scenario were correct then the system would not boot off the HD, but you say that if you ignore the CD prompt then it goes ahead and boots off the HD. Ergo, there is nothing wrong with the HD boot record.

If the boot priority appears obviously correct in the BIOS, it might be worth clearing the CMOS memory to see if that restores normal operation. You might also look for a BIOS flash. I was bothered by your statement about two active partitions. You have one physical disk, so you can't have two active partitions. If you did something specific that you recall when you were partitioning the disk, please relate the details.