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Windows XP cannot boot without xp CD in place

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by cdoublen

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Hello guys
This has been a problem for me for about a week now. I have reasd and tried tons of options it never worked.

There's a PC for which the hard disc corrupted I decided to change for a new one. But it has been so crazy, I tried to install win XP pro which couldn't install i had to remove it and put it in another computer and installed XP pro on it. When I took it back to the old computer it never booted.

So it keeps saying "boot from disk failed insert CD to boot from CD and press enter" when i do it boots, but if I try to shut down the standby button on shut down options is grayed out. Trying to reboot without CD never works. Boot order is ok, i.e floppy, HDD, CDDVD what else can I do to sort it out. any ideas guys

12 replies

by older mycroft

Placing the hard drive in another machine, and installing within that machine, only allows XP to run on THAT machine.

When you take the hard drive back to the first machine, the environment is alien to the XP installation - it will NOT work.

If XP refused to install on the first machine there may be a problem with the optical drive on that machine. Have you tried swapping the optical drives so that you can install in situ?

by cdoublen

Thanks
I formatted the HDD in the native PC and reinstalled XP pro. This did not help. I tried to set boot order as proposed by one of the responders here to no avail. What else can I do?
I am stuck. Do you guys think the CMOS battery could be the culprit? I want to try change it and see if it works. Any further suggestions ill be highly appreciated.

by older mycroft

When you first posted the XP installation kept failing. What else did you do apart from formatting (which happens by default anyway).

In your BIOS - what is the boot order at present?

What difficulty are you having in trying to rearrange the boot order?

Are you telling us that after successfully installing XP you STILL cannot boot from the hard drive?

What type of hard drive is this?
While we're at it - what type of PC?

by Former member

Your boot order should be: 1).DVD/cd, 2).Floppy, 3).hdd. So try this boot order.Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

by rob miners

Fist thing to check is whether the Drive is detected in BIOS.
Change your Boot order in the BIOS to CD/DVD Floppy HDD save the settings and exit the PC will restart.

Put the Drive back in the PC that you used to install XP. Insert your XP CD and when you see ?Press any key to boot from CD? press a key. Click Install Windows XP. In the Windows Setup window, click Upgrade (Recommended) in the Installation Type list, and then click Next.
Follow the instructions on the screen until the computer begins to restart. Just as the computer begins to restart, turn off the computer. Remove the Drive and put it back in your PC. If all goes well setup installs the HAL, the IDE controller drivers, and any other drivers that the new motherboard must have.
After the upgrade is completed, reinstall any service packs or hotfixes that you had previously installed. Install the Motherboard Drivers for your PC.

If it is still not Booting try this.

Insert your XP CD and when you see ?Press any key to boot from CD? press a key. Now wait for the XP installer to finish loading up and you will be presented with the option to press R to Repair.

Press R.
The next screen will ask you which Windows? installation you would like to log on to. Normally the following will be listed:
1: C:\WINDOWS

Press 1, then Enter to continue.
You may now be asked for the Administrator password. If you know this type it and press Enter. If you don't know the Administrators password it may be blank. Just press Enter or type your username and password.

At the command prompt type:

fixmbr and press Enter

fixboot and press Enter

Wait until you are returned to the Recovery Console.

Type bootcfg /rebuild

Once you are back to the Recovery Console remove the XP CD and restart your PC.

< missed a bit >

by cdoublen

Hi
sorry for the confussion. As I explained the first time, the HDD was installed with XP from a different machine. When I moved the HDD to the problematic PC it failed to boot from HDD it demanded putting XP CD and hitting enter. No matter whatever boot order I arranged. I then tried to format the HDD, which looked as if it was formated and the XP reinstalled. When I tried to boot it when the CD was off the drive, it couldn't boot still instead it requested booting from CD. But this time I saw two copies of XP Pro which to me meant the formatting did not work. i.e it just went through the fomat process and left everything in the HDD as is. Coz even other software that were installed previous were still there even after formatting the HDD. However, if you boot using XP CD it boots and you can run any program but it very unstable. You can even take the XP CD off and it still runs. Now, if you try to restart the booting process fails to boot from HDD instead asks for booting from CD. This PC is clone machine, but the HDD is quantum. I hope I have made it clearer!

by rob miners

Insert your XP CD and when you see ?Press any key to boot from CD? press a key. Now wait for the XP installer to finish loading up and you will be presented with the option to press R to Repair.

Press R.
The next screen will ask you which Windows? installation you would like to log on to. Normally the following will be listed:
1: C:\WINDOWS

Press 1, then Enter to continue.
You may now be asked for the Administrator password. If you know this type it and press Enter. If you don't know the Administrators password it may be blank. Just press Enter or type your username and password.

At the command prompt type:

fixmbr and press Enter

fixboot and press Enter

Wait until you are returned to the Recovery Console.

Type bootcfg /rebuild

Once you are back to the Recovery Console remove the XP CD and restart your PC.

by cdoublen

If I try to boot with CD in drive, it does go to those options,it just boot as if it was having no boot problem. Once I take XP CD off the drive and reboot it, it says can not boot from HDD insert CD to boot from CD. If I insert the CD it just boots straight to XP log on window. I s there a trick I use to get it to the repair option? Can't do the repair procedures explained above from window when it has booted using CD?

by rob miners

seen in the BIOS.

What type of Drive is it. If it is IDE you can check that it is set as Master and on the right IDE channel. You can also try manually setting Cylinders, Heads and Sectors taken from the info on the Drive. This is also set in the BIOS.

Also check that you haven't jumperd two devices as Master on the same IDE Cable.

If it is Sata make sure that it is on Sata0/Sata1 depending on the board.

Try resetting the BIOS back to Default.

by cdoublen

well the HDD is IDE I want see if your proposed settings will work. I will be back to you tomorrow. Thanks

by freonzt

i had the same problems, i trying to replace the processor that cannot boot without cd to another normal mainboard with the same brand, it make the normal motherboard getting error boot ... "please insert cd ...."
look like trouble in the processor, anyone can solve this problems ????

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