Boot Failure

Hi, I am having problems with my computer. I get the message Boot Failure when I load my computer. I put the boot disk in and it tells me that some hardware was not configured. I think this is because I switched hard drives on my computer. I can't get into my BIOS Settings even if I constantly press the Del key. I'm not sure how to configure my hard drive so that it loads properly. The computer does recognize the drive when I try to partition the drive. I have already tried Recovery Console and tried re-installing Windows XP but it still does not boot, and gives me the same error. I have an 686 AMIBIOS, but I'm not sure what the motherboard is since somebody else installed it for us and never gave us the manuals. I want to install Windows XP. Please let me know what I can do. Thanks!

 

Is the new Hard Drive formatted? This may cause a Boot Error if it is not correctly formatted, and may prevent you from installing XP.
You can use a bootable utility such as Super FDisk to ensure the drive is blank before you use the XP Setup disk to install XP. The instructions should tell you how to make a bootable CD and boot from it to format your drive.

DEL may not be the key you need to press to enter the BIOS setup. Although this is the most common, the key depends on the motherboard. There are steps you can take to identify the motherboard you are using. This site shows one method:
http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/moboid1.html

Once you know the manufacturer and model, you can look up their website and probably download a manual. This should tell you how to enter BIOS setup. If you still cannot enter BIOS setup, you may need to reset the BIOS Settings (may be refered to as CMOS settings or similar). This too can be found in the motherboard manual. It usually involves moving a small plastic coated conductor (or "jumper") from one pair of pins to another - often located near the CMOS battery.

You will need to set the boot order in the BIOS to be the Hard drive you want to install XP on, then the CDROM drive you want to install from. You should only need to set this once, unless you need to boot from a CD - in which case you will need to enter BIOS setup and swap the two around.

When you have booted from the XP Setup CD, it will then take you through the steps of partitioning and formatting your hard drive. Once this is done it will copy installation files to the drive, and then reboot. When you reboot it will first try to boot from the CD - but if you do not press a key when prompted it will boot from the hard drive - you MUST boot from the hard drive to continue installation!

If you have any problems along the way, just post them - remembering to give us as much detail as possible.

Thanks