Hi, If the E: drive is not a boot drive then no way will it boot. If it's a HDrive it would have to have Command.com, a visible file and IO.sys plus Msdos.sys both hidden. They are required for a drive to boot. Format /s would have put them on. SYS C: would add them from DOS and XP probably has a function to do the same thing. If it's a CD and you burned it you would have had to tell the burner that you wanted it to be bootable.
Good Luck, Jim