Boot Issues

[racerboybmw]

Middle of Dvd copy, computer froze up, no key action, no mouse. On reboot, system came up with missing operating system. Reloaded WinXP, formatted drive, loaded fine but on restart came up missing operating system. Tried different drive, formatted, installed WinXP, on reboot came up missing operating system. Will only boot from CD rom. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Quantax]

Is the HD and the DVD drive hooked up on the same channel?

[ski]

Make sure the HD's IDE controller is enabled in BIOS.

If ok, then make sure the HD's IDE cable and power lead are securely connected.

If ok, then, disconnect all drives except the boot HD.
If the system boots, then reconnect the other drives one at a time until the problem resurfaces.
The last drive connected is the cause.

If it does not boot, then connect a different power lead and a different known working IDE cable to the HD.

If no luck, then connect the HD to the IDE 2 channel, and see if the system boots.
If that works, then the IDE 1 controller is bad.

[racerboybmw]

changed IDE cables(switched not replaced) and no to avail. Swithed back and it came alive :confused: Don't ask me -I just work here. Now working fine-thanks for the suggestions.