IDE Drive Boot Up Problem

[TheTeZ]

Hey Everyone.
I have been trying to get this computer running for sometime.... its not my first build but deff, it is proving to be my mot difficult... although i dont see why....

So ive got a lanparty LT p35 with 4 gigs of memory, ive got an intel core 2 duo dual core processor, and the hard drive.... well this is the problem...

The computer will start to boot up. but it gets to "boot disk failure insert new disk ..." now i know its not a bad drive.... because it does the same with all 3 that i have tried (that i know work) the bios does see the hdd. i tried an install of windows xp (an oem 32 bit just to try it) the install starts well, but then when the compute reboots (which is normaly for the xp install) i get the boot disk error again.

anyone have an ideas? all my drives are IDE

 

[TheTeZ]

... anyone have any ideas? do you need more info?

 

[Freeduck]

Did you set the boot order in BIOS?

 

[TheTeZ]

yeah, right now i have it set to cd first .... but that shouldent stop it should it? i mean i did let it try to boot hdd first before...

 

[Freeduck]

How did you Partition/Format the disk?
FAT or NTFS?
Faulty MBR? http://askbobrankin.com/fix_mbr.html
Did you previously use the hard drive for Linux?

 

[CosmosX]

My guess is that you need to change the position of the jumper on the hard drive, depending how you connected any other devices on the same IDE. Have you tried a SATA drive by any chance? It could also be a dead MBR...

 

[TheTeZ]

well one of them i am not sure what format it was, it had XP on it and i used it it was probably a FAT32
The 2nd one i tried i have No idea what was going on with it.
The one i just formatted was NTFS and i started a XP install.... wouldent the mbr be on this harddrive i am trying to create? .... or maybe it never got that far...? but i have a feeling it would do this with a brand new HDD also....

And the one that is currently in did have linux on it... but it is now formatted.

 

[TheTeZ]

I have changed the jumpers to a few difffrent options... i ment to take it off completely and see if thatll do anything... but didnt.. ill try that now... i wanted to try a SATA but i dont have one anymore :-/ i dont think any of the other comps in the house have it either....

ill look into the mbr...

 

[TheTeZ]

... the MBR is on the hard drive.... i find it surprising all 3 hard drives have corrupted mbr's.... dont you?

 

[CosmosX]

Does the diagnostic LED on the mobo give you any errors? If there is a function in the bios to restore to factory settings you might want to try that. Check if the hdd is not on raid setting by default.
I'm running out of ideas

 

[CosmosX]

oh and try a different IDE cable too

 

[TheTeZ]

i know i ran outa ideas a long time ago.... i just tried redoing the MBR, it told me i had a non standard or invalid mbr and replacing it could damage partitions and make then inaccessible and junk... so i did it completed successfully, but now i am sitting at "verifying DMI pool data ........... update success" sitting at that for a long time.... The Mobo diagnostic led's read FF at this point. i didnt think it should be doing that yet... i restored the bios to fail safe... thats the closest i have... i think... and it is not on raid...

Man... i wanan be done with this already!!!

 

[TheTeZ]

i have tried 3 different ide cables... but i deff do see the drives and they are being read. i booted into some live CD's and could see them, i was also able to start an XP install.... but when it reboots to continue to install its a no go from there..

 

[TheTeZ]

??? anyone

 

[TheTeZ]

i can try to fix my MBR as many times as i want and i says successful
everytime....
but every time it tells me i have a non standard or invalid mbr...
do i wanna fix it anyway, i say yes. it says successful, i try again it tells me its bad again... ??

 

[dokk2]

Hey Everyone.
I have been trying to get this computer running for sometime.... its not my first build but deff, it is proving to be my mot difficult... although i dont see why....

So ive got a lanparty LT p35 with 4 gigs of memory, ive got an intel core 2 duo dual core processor, and the hard drive.... well this is the problem...

The computer will start to boot up. but it gets to "boot disk failure insert new disk ..." now i know its not a bad drive.... because it does the same with all 3 that i have tried (that i know work) the bios does see the hdd. i tried an install of windows xp (an oem 32 bit just to try it) the install starts well, but then when the compute reboots (which is normaly for the xp install) i get the boot disk error again.

anyone have an ideas? all my drives are IDE

i know that i am a little late to this party ,,but you have been toooo close to the wood and cannot see the trees,,now then ,,, get a hold of the manufactures diags,from their web site and write zeros to the whole hdd ,,or fdisk the damn thing,never mind mbr'ing that is no good to an empty hdd,which for all intents and purposes has no mbr,well sort of,,AND,,before you hook up your hdd's use the CABLE SELECT jumper on the bottom of the hdd,XP loves cable select, btw..
point,,you need to be certain that all of your hdd's are up to scratch before you invest your time,effort,and software,onto them..
you mentioned that you have 4g of ram,,i hope it is 2x2 not 4x1,as some mobo's do not play well with 4x1........................