The original Windows CD won't boot

okay, this is pretty weird. I don't even know where to begin.

I think the whole problem started when I tried to clone my 10gb Seagate HDD (my system drive) to the new WD 80gb HDD using Norton Ghost 9.0 It did work, however I forgot to check the "Copy MBR" option, so I had to did it again. This time it didn't work. It said something about my Disk 1 (my source 10gb drive) layout not matching the OS information (?). So I thought "oh well, I'll just install Windows from scratch on the new drive using my Windows CD ". To my surprise, i wasn't able to get it to boot. I set all the necessary options in BIOS (booting devices and stuff), and tried again (with and without my current system disk). It just didn't work. It would say "no operating system found" with the HDD disconnected, and when it was connected, Windows would just boot from it (even though the booting sequence in my BIOS looks like CD-CD-CD). I know my CD is fine, because I had used it like 3 or 4 times to install Windows in the past.

Yesterday, I borrowed my friend's Windows CD, just for the heck of it. This time, it said "NTLDR not found" when I disconnected my primary HDD. With the HDD connected, it just loaded Windows off it.

I am really at loss. I am beginning to think it's some kind of hardware problem with my mobo or/and BIOS, but still, when using my old 10 giger WIndows loads just fine and I have no problems running the system, but I really want to replace this old drive with my new WD one.

Any suggestions?

 

yes, they are. but the problem occurs even when the new drive is not connected. it still won't boot from the original windows CD. I just checked it in my laptop, and it booted fine... I really have no idea what is going on

 

just a minute ago I tried disconnecting ALL my hard drives from the on-board controler, and guess what, my computer started with the Windows CD just fine.... however, when I connected ANY of my HDDs, it was the same thing again - either it would say "no operating system found ", or just boot from my current system HDD. I think I might have some weird problem with my IDE controlers, but I am really not sure what to think any more

I tried all possible configurations - one HDD and one CD drive, one HDD and two CD drives, one CD drive and one HDD on the same cable, it was all the same - whenever there's a HDD connected, I just can't get the system to boot from the WIndows CD

 

Perhaps pull the cmos battery and let things set for a few minutes or overnight even. Sometimes that helps by resetting the BIOS to defaults.

You can also try booting to a good boot floppy with the right tools and see if you can access the cd-rom drive from that method. If you can, then run the Recovery Console (with newly imaged drive installed as master) and select the first "R" offered (repair existing install). Then select the OS detected (1. C:\Windows) and then run the FIXBOOT and FIXMBR commands from the command line.

Often when deploying an image created on a different drive, the boot code gets confused. I have had that happen before. It seems to make no difference what imaging software is used since I tried Ghost, Drive image, and true Image. All gave the same results and required the RC to fix.

If you need the boot floppy, download this and run it. It will ask you to insert a blank floppy in your drive and will create the boot floppy for you.

Booting with it will allow you to access the cd-rom drive. Watch the screen directions for starting the install (with XP cd in the bay) by changing directories to the i386 and running winnt.exe. Then select the repair "R" and go for it.

I suspect you have had the cd-rom boot problem for some time and not realized it until now. That coupled with the boot code confusion of the new HD makes for a great mind teaser.

Good luck.