New build only boots with XP disk in drive

[Guest]

Hi guys,

I've just rebuilt my PC from the bottom up, new everything except HDDs. The
last time I used it before the rebuild Windows crashed and was not shut down
correctly.

I installed all the new hardware, reinstalled Windows XP Home SP2 (without
reformatting first) and all is well. I can do anythying - get on the net,
play games, instatll drivers - it's really working perfectly.

Except that if I take the Windows XP disk out of the CD drive and try to
boot the PC I still get the prompt after the POST screen advising that
Windows failed to shut down correctly and offering me a choice of using the
last known good config, safe mode, etc. This is a hangover from before I
rebuilt the PC. No matter which option I choose the PC fails and restarts,
not surprising since the hardware config has changed completely.

However, as long as the XP disk is in the drive when I boot the PC Windows
loads fine. Note that I'm NOT booting from the disk. It's just in the drive.

I'm pretty expert with PCs and I'm pretty certain that the boot sequence in
the BIOS is not the problem. If I take the CD-ROM out of the boot sequence
all that happens is that I get the failure to boot message and Windows won't
load, same as if I boot without the XP disk in the drive.

Definitely a weird problem and a difficult one to know how to search for on
Google - anyone got any ideas? It sounds like maybe there are two bootstraps
on the HDD and the PC only picks up the right one if the CD is in. Does that
sound right to anyone? Can I delete a bootstrap?

Help!

 

[philo]

Hi guys,

I've just rebuilt my PC from the bottom up, new everything except HDDs.
The
last time I used it before the rebuild Windows crashed and was not shut
down
correctly.

I installed all the new hardware, reinstalled Windows XP Home SP2 (without
reformatting first) and all is well. I can do anythying - get on the net,
play games, instatll drivers - it's really working perfectly.

Except that if I take the Windows XP disk out of the CD drive and try to
boot the PC I still get the prompt after the POST screen advising that
Windows failed to shut down correctly and offering me a choice of using
the
last known good config, safe mode, etc. This is a hangover from before I
rebuilt the PC. No matter which option I choose the PC fails and restarts,
not surprising since the hardware config has changed completely.

<snip>


first thing to do is bootup with the XP cd and enter the recovery console

though the commands fixboot or fixmbr may be helpful

try a chkdsk /r first