Problems booting after installing new hard drive

[Guest]

Last night, I installed a second hard drive on my system, (making sure to set
it as a slave drive). I then used the included software for that hard drive
to format/partition it, and rebooted to start Windows. I noticed that during
the POST it lingers for a while on certain parts that it didn't used to, and
then after a while it will tell me something similar to "BOOT ERROR, INSERT
SYSTEM DISK IN CD-ROM DRIVE AND PRESS ENTER". My computer came with Windows
XP (Home) pre-installed when I bought it two years ago, and the manufacturer
did not include a Windows CD, so I borrowed one from a friend. After
inserting the CD, it briefly gives me the option to "Press any key to boot
from CD", and if I don't press anything, after a few seconds it will boot
into Windows.

So, the solution I need here is to get my PC to boot from the hard drive
again, so I can give my friend back his copy of Windows. Should I use his CD
to repair my Windows installation, or is there something else I can do to fix
this? (The last time I repaired a Windows XP installation, it would not
accept the product key and I had to call support and have them give me a
replacement key.)

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[peter]

it sounds like its trying to boot from the new HD .......so here are a few
things to look at
Is it on the same IDE channel/cable as the old but connected to the middle
connector on the cable??
Enter your BIOS and check to make sure that your old HD is listed in the
boot order before the new HD
peter

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Last night, I installed a second hard drive on my system, (making sure to
set
it as a slave drive). I then used the included software for that hard
drive
to format/partition it, and rebooted to start Windows. I noticed that
during
the POST it lingers for a while on certain parts that it didn't used to,
and
then after a while it will tell me something similar to "BOOT ERROR,
INSERT
SYSTEM DISK IN CD-ROM DRIVE AND PRESS ENTER". My computer came with
Windows
XP (Home) pre-installed when I bought it two years ago, and the
manufacturer
did not include a Windows CD, so I borrowed one from a friend. After
inserting the CD, it briefly gives me the option to "Press any key to
boot
from CD", and if I don't press anything, after a few seconds it will boot
into Windows.

So, the solution I need here is to get my PC to boot from the hard drive
again, so I can give my friend back his copy of Windows. Should I use his
CD
to repair my Windows installation, or is there something else I can do to
fix
this? (The last time I repaired a Windows XP installation, it would not
accept the product key and I had to call support and have them give me a
replacement key.)

Thanks in advance for your help!

You made a serious mistake when you allowed some third-party
software to partition/format your new disk. Windows is capable
of doing this by itself and it has a number of inbuilt safeguards to
protect it from self-destruction. I sincerely hope that the third-party
software did not format your main disk. You can find out like so:

- Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your friend's WinXP CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="5 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINDOWS="6 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

The last six lines are long lines and may wrap-around in your
news reader. Each starts with the word "multi". You must
unwrap them!

Boot the machine with this floppy diskette and test if
one of the six options works.