OS boot media problem

hiya everyone. Ive just recently built a new computer and i came to install windows XP pro. It was going all well untill it came to restarting my comp after it installed xp.

A message would pop up saying:

"reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device"

:confused

I went into my bios to check that the motherboard was reconising the hdd (it is) and I also checked the boot priorty and its set at HDD -> CD ROM

I tried again and reinstalled windows XP and the same happend again.

Incase it was the HDD thats gone caput and not storing data, I tried it on another HDD but got the same results :cry

I then tried using ubuntu. using the CD i can run a live OS which works (thats how im typing this message now) I then tried installing ubuntu onto the HDD which it did sucessfully, I restarted the computer (with the CD out) and got the same message as XP :confused

So I loaded up ubuntu using the CD and accessed the HDD and all the ubuntu files are on there, so its actually stored the data but when it comes to load the OS off the HDD it wont do it. :cry :cry :cry

Can anyone help please.

Many Thanks
Ryan.

 

Many motherboards have a "2nd boot order".... there is the boot order you mentioned that is set correctly (HDD > CDROM) but there may also be a setting for 'Hard Drive Boot Priority' so if you have multiple drives you can select which to boot from. Make sure that the drive with Windows on it is selected first. If your hard drive is SATA make sure that the RAID is not enabled if you're using a single drive (or is set to IDE or PATA mode; some motherboards word this differently). If you have an IDE hard drive sharing a cable with a CD/DVD drive make sure the jumpers are set correctly; if you have no SATA devices you can disable the feature in BIOS. If none of this works, post the make and model of the motherboard (or PC) and we'll go from there....

Oh yeah.... make sure you don't have a floppy disk in the drive, and be sure that any external or USB drives are not connected when booting.
Good luck! And welcome to Major Geeks!
:major

 

I followed through your instructions. I'm only running 1hdd, I re-checked all my jumper settings, bios settings but still no luck

My comp:
brand new: MSI K9N Neo V3 (http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1244&maincat_no=1)

Brand new: AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+ (http://www.hothardware.com/articles/AMD_Athlon_64_X2_6000/)

Brand new: PowerColor HD2600XT 512mb Graphics Card (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132497)

Brand new: Arctic Power 500W PSU (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124922)

used HDD and CD-ROM which are both working.

Both the HDD and CD-ROM are connected to the motherboard with 1 IDE cable. The HDD is set on master and is connected to the top connector on the IDE cable. The CD-ROM is set on slave and on the 2nd connector on the IDE cable.

 

Chances are your problem then stems from which motherboard socket you inserted the ide ribbon in. If you have it in the secondary ide connector thats your problem. Your main OS should be on the hard drive set as master, connected to the terminating end of the ribbon and on the primary ide channel. So check your primary and secondary ide labeling on the motherboard. Or, if its hard to see which is which, just switch connectors and try booting again.

 

there is only 1 IDE connector.......

Thanks anyway

Ryan.

 

update:

Just bought a new sata HDD. When it arrives in the post ill fit it and hopefully it will sort the problem.

Ill post results up when i do.

Ryan.

 

Good idea. Some of the newer motherboards do not support booting from an IDE hard drive. Why? Who knows. But I have seen this a few times; it usually says in the manual somewhere that booting from an IDE hard drive is not supported. On one board, there was a sticker over the IDE header that said if an IDE HD was to be connected, it had to be as a slave and could not be booted from. Strange. But now that SATA drives have become the norm, IDE drives are going to be pushed aside.

 

pluged my new sata hdd in, installed windows and w00p w00p it works!!!

Thanks for your help btw

Ryan.