Help required please - New Build won't Boot.

Xordium · 7 Jul 2011 at 21:12

Ok everything powers up ok and straight into the BIOS on a MSI P67A-C43. It recognises the DVD drive in the BIO and I have selected it as No 1 boot device. I have inserted the Windows 7 DVD into the drive and then after a quick pause it pops up with this gem:

reboot and select proper boot device
or insert boot media into drive and press a key

Pretty knackered now at this stage of the day so a fresh perspective on where to start would be appreciated

RJC · 7 Jul 2011 at 21:30

Seems like the pc is trying to boot from another device, are all memory cards removed.

It should read the DVD drive and then ask you to press any key to continue installation.

Xordium · 7 Jul 2011 at 21:34

RJC said:
Seems like the pc is trying to boot from another device, are all memory cards removed.

It should read the DVD drive and then ask you to press any key to continue installation.

Yep all removed - only attached are the HD that I want to load Windows into and the DVD drive that has the Windows disk in. :confused:

Swordfish · 7 Jul 2011 at 21:36

Sound like you might have a faulty DVD disc.

Xordium · 7 Jul 2011 at 21:48

Swordfish said:
Sound like you might have a faulty DVD disc.

My old copy of XP it won't do anything with either so I can only assume it is the DVD drive itself. Might be wrong on that though.

RJC · 7 Jul 2011 at 21:53

Quick question, when you go back into the BIOS does it show the drive as the first boot device, also what happens when you remove all the hard drives bar the DVD drive.

Xordium · 7 Jul 2011 at 21:54

RJC said:
Quick question, when you go back into the BIOS does it show the drive as the first boot device, also what happens when you remove all the hard drives bar the DVD drive.

Yes it shows the DVD as the first device and I have tried removing the HD and also disabling the other boots options as well.

Swordfish · 7 Jul 2011 at 21:59

USB or PS2 Keyboard ?

If USB it might just be that your monitor is not at speed with your system and you are missing the "press any key option".

If it is USB make sure USB support is enabled for USB keyboards. Might say legacy etc.

Sounds like a total shot in the dark, but I have seen this before.

Xordium · 7 Jul 2011 at 22:04

Swordfish said:
USB or PS2 Keyboard ?

If USB it might just be that your monitor is not at speed with your system and you are missing the "press any key option".

If it is USB make sure USB support is enabled for USB keyboards. Might say legacy etc.

Sounds like a total shot in the dark, but I have seen this before.

It's a USB keyboard - just checked what you suggested and it's ok there. When I reboot I don't get an activity light on the DVD player so I can only assume it is the DVD player that is not working. But the fact that it opened and I could get an activity light after inserting a disk in there was steering me away from this at first. Now not so sure ...

TourettesOnFire · 7 Jul 2011 at 22:17

Do you have a spare dvd drive you could plug in to see if it is the drive?

TNGL · 7 Jul 2011 at 22:17

maustin said:
It's a USB keyboard - just checked what you suggested and it's ok there. When I reboot I don't get an activity light on the DVD player so I can only assume it is the DVD player that is not working. But the fact that it opened and I could get an activity light after inserting a disk in there was steering me away from this at first. Now not so sure ...

Have you considered trying to install Windows from a USB Drive, just so you can rule out anything else but the DVD Drive?

Xordium · 7 Jul 2011 at 22:37

TourettesOnFire said:
Do you have a spare dvd drive you could plug in to see if it is the drive?

Unfortunately not

Tingle said:
Have you considered trying to install Windows from a USB Drive, just so you can rule out anything else but the DVD Drive?

Yep good idea will leave the iso downloading overnight to my netbook and see if I can get this all sorted that way.

For anyone else who follows me with a similar problem - Installation from USB guide here: http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/12/-the-usb-flash-drive.ars

JamesAnderson · 7 Jul 2011 at 22:39

In my opinion I think that your CD is faulty, does the drive make those noises and stop?
Burn another disc with windows on it with another drive.
OR: get any working cd, place in the drive, after it makes the read noises, does it actually make that loud after read noise, just try booting with any working cd and the pause should be longer and then you know the drive ain't faulty.

Xordium · 7 Jul 2011 at 22:51

JamesAnderson said:
In my opinion I think that your CD is faulty, does the drive make those noises and stop?
Burn another disc with windows on it with another drive.
OR: get any working cd, place in the drive, after it makes the read noises, does it actually make that loud after read noise, just try booting with any working cd and the pause should be longer and then you know the drive ain't faulty.

I have tried it with my copy of XP that I know works and it does the same thing there - I don't think it even is making any effort to read at all. Hopefully using a USB will work.

Xordium · 8 Jul 2011 at 08:25

OK this is now doing my head in! Used the tools to make the USB a w7 bootable drive but at the end it says "we were unable to run bootsec to make the USB device bootable". Any ideas?

Is this because I am trying make a 64-bit OS bootable using a 32 bit operating system - could I get 32 bit iso and copy the bootsec.exe to the flash drive and the copy over with the 64 bit iso? Anyone know if this a viable option before I download the whole 32 bit iso!

Xordium · 8 Jul 2011 at 12:18

works from a USB DVD drive - thank you to those who helped.