Disk Boot Failure

Hard disk controlers enabled obviously,
Manually enter the details about size etc rather than using automatic for the hard disk, user defined!, in bios detection. Before doing that you could try just try a Set Bios to all defaults as a starting point.

Are you using the new cables that came with the MB rather than the old ones? Cables whilst looking similar have been upgraded over the last few years.

What partition is the OS installed on?
As a later check have you ensured that the required boot partition is set to active, FDisk

Good luck,
ragsol

Yes i am using the new cables that came with the MB. The OS was installed on an empty hdd using the XP installer, the installer partioned it. I am not sure how to check if the partion is set to active?

I know this sounds so obvious that you most likely haven't looked but does the new M'Board support that size HDD?

There should be a mention in the Manual to what size HDD the BIOS actually supports, from your description the drive is bigger than what is supported by the BIOS.

Another alternative would be to Flash the BIOS to the newest available and see if that helps.

Col

Verify that the boot options within CMOS are set properly. Below is an example of how we recommend the boot options be set.

Floppy drive
CD-ROM drive
Hard Drive
Other / Network
NON BOOTABLE CD OR CD-R IN COMPUTER

Verify that no CD or CD-R is in the computer possibly causing the computer to attempt to boot from that disc.

ALL BOOT DEVICES SET ARE NOT BOOTABLE

If all of the above recommendations have been attempted and you encounter the same issue it is likely that the computer is not detecting any devices in the computer that are bootable. Attempt to boot from a bootable floppy disk.

If you are unable to boot from a known bootable floppy diskette, ensure that the floppy drive is properly setup. Additional information and troubleshooting on the computer floppy drive can be found on document CH000277.

Once you are able to boot from a bootable floppy diskette, ensure that the hard disk drive is able to be read. Information about why you may not be able to see the hard drive when booting from a floppy diskette can be found on document CH000047.

Most of the BIOS I've seen also have an automatic setting. Try that and then be sure the ribbon cables are clugged in properly with ribbon stripe closerest to the power supply plugs.

ok thanks guys but still not working with all ur sugetions, if i take my hdd out and put my other hdd in that has linux installed then it will boot but then if i put the xp hdd in it says DISK BOOT ERROR......... I canot install XP on the other hdd because its to small :(

my computer was doing that same thing that yours is doing but mine was a new build. I have a MSI motherboard. My problem was in CMOS setting. I have two hard drives one that is IDE and one that is SATA. The motherboard was configured to read from the slave drive and not the master. When i installed windows it let me install it to the master drive. That might be the reason that you are having this problem. Check your CMOS setting and make sure that it is set on first boot that it is set to your hard drive and not your cd drive. Hope that this helps you out.....