Help, cannot get new PC to boot

Inevitable · 10 Aug 2006 at 12:39

Hi, this is the first time I have ever built a PC, and as far I know everything is connected correctly, but I could have course be wrong.

I turn on the computer, it beeps and the screen you would expect comes on, displaying the cpu, ram, etc. It will soon then bring up the message:

"Boot from CD/DVD:"

followed a few seconds later by:

"Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter"

I try putting in my Windows XP disc and pressing enter, but it just repeats that message. I can access the bios and it detects both my hard drive and my dvd drive, and I have tried changing the boot orders between the drives, but the same message still occurs. Please let me know if you need any other details to help me solve this problem.

Inevitable · 10 Aug 2006 at 13:00

Unfortunately, doing that still brings up the same message

Inevitable · 10 Aug 2006 at 13:20

I tried cleaning this disc, and putting it in again, same thing happened, and I then tried the disc in another computer, and it worked fine on it, so I don't think the disc is the problem. :confused:

Inevitable · 10 Aug 2006 at 14:12

j00ni said:
Looks like it isn't finding a bootable disk, most commonly from incorrectly connected HDD and/or optical drive, I have seen this most commonly with IDE master/slave settings not being right.

Is the optical drive IDE or SATA? If IDE, is it the only device on the channel (or is there a HDD or second drive connected to the same cable)?

Both my HDD and DVD drives are master as far as I can see, the HDD is SATA and the DVD drive is IDE. Both of them are connected with their own individual power cable and SATA/IDE cable with nothing else on the same one.

Inevitable · 10 Aug 2006 at 14:42

Trigger said:
Do you have a floppy disk drive in your machine?

I do, but I unplugged it to ensure it wasn't interfering, but it made no difference.

MattJones2k6 said:
Any chance of pics of the cables runing from the Drives to your motherboard?

I will try and get some now.

Inevitable · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:05

I have taken out all the leads for the floppy disc and disabled it in the bios, and I still get the same message. I will post some pictures soon.

Inevitable · 10 Aug 2006 at 16:31

DVD drive conection

HDD connection

If you need to see any other parts closer, let me know.

Another thing I found strange is that, when I push the power button, the computer will make a sound and all the fans will spin round once, and then everything will stop, as if it has been turned off, and then 5 seconds later it will come on properly. Is this normal or is something else wrong?

Inevitable · 10 Aug 2006 at 17:03

Yes, I do have that plug connected, I will try resetting the CMOS. My pictures seem to have vanished in my above post :confused:

it seems nothing wants to work for me at the minute lol.

Inevitable · 10 Aug 2006 at 17:09

daz said:
Your XP disc - is it a clean install disc or an 'upgrade' disc?

Should be a clean install one, its the one for £61.04 on OcUK.

Inevitable · 11 Aug 2006 at 12:22

Thanks for all your help guys, I finally got it running. It turns out it was the DVD drive, I put in an old Hitachi drive I had, and it worked perfectly, so I installed Windows using that. I then put my new NEC one back in; it is detected by the computer, but when I put in a disc, it makes all the noises like it is trying to read it, but it just tells me to insert a disc, and doesn't acknowledge that there is one in it. I think it must be faulty.