Disc boot failure

[NichowA]

So I have a somewhat unusual problem. I reformatted the other day and reinstalled XP Pro on the same hard drive it was on before. Prior to the reformat everything worked fine, it was just getting sluggish so I wiped it. Anyway, the install went fine, and I'm actually posting from the computer in question right now. However, whenever I reboot, if I don't have the XP disc in the drive I get a "DISC BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISC AND PRESS ENTER" message. The only way for me to get the computer to boot is if I put in the xp disc and ignore it when it says "hit any key to boot from CD." For some reason the computer is recognizing the XP install if I have the disc in the drive, but not otherwise.

All of my drives are recognized in BIOS and during the initial boot-up sequence. Furthermore, if I wait for the disc boot failure error and then put the xp cd in, even if I press enter then it won't boot from the CD, just gives the same error over and over.

Obviously this problem isn't a HUGE issue for me right now since I have a workaround, but I'd rather be able to store my XP cd somewhere safe than have to keep it out in the open so that I can put it in the drive every single time I want to boot.

Is anyone familiar with a problem like this? Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[bendixG15]

I had the same problem because I had two hard drives and the BIOS was set to look for Windows on the drive that did not contain Windows. I reset the BIOS to look for the correct Boot Drive and that fixed all.

 

[Chosonman]

Originally posted by: bendixG15
I had the same problem because I had two hard drives and the BIOS was set to look for Windows on the drive that did not contain Windows. I reset the BIOS to look for the correct Boot Drive and that fixed all.

Looks like you have a winner.

 

[NichowA]

Originally posted by: bendixG15
I had the same problem because I had two hard drives and the BIOS was set to look for Windows on the drive that did not contain Windows. I reset the BIOS to look for the correct Boot Drive and that fixed all.

That's actually the first thing I checked. =/ Even if I set the HD with windows as the ONLY boot device, it doesn't work.

One thing that's somewhat unusual though, when I reformatted and installed windows, it switched up the drive lettering on me. The drive with windows on it, that used to be C:, is now assigned D:. Could that cause the problem?

 

[cubby1223]

I've seen similar things before. The best thing to do is start to install XP onto a new hard drive, and stop the installation after the first reboot. Just so the drive is bootable, you don't have to go any further into the XP install.

Hook this drive, and your old drive, into another computer, and do a full file copy from explorer from the original to the new. A bit of time involved, but it gets the job done.