Ask Me Help Desk - Clueless! WinXP won't install on IDE. Please HLP!

Goal: To install windows on an IDE drive, located on Primary IDE Master.
Problem: When booting from the windows cd, it will do the initial install just fine (when it's in the CMD looking bootup). Then when it finishes and restarts the computer, it will boot into the same 'installing windows' setup screen. It will never get 'into' windows and 'continue' the setup via the GUI like usual (in which case it would give an approx time left for install).
Troubleshooting Tried: If I take the windows cd out on that reboot (right after the first install), it will just display an error regarding "No System Disk" (forgot the exact error). The only thing it wants to do is boot off the windows cd and reinstall all over again. This is on a new computer build. So just in case, I've replaced the mobo+cpu with the same kind, but swapped them out (ECS nForce3-A + AMD Athlon 64 3000+), tried 2 different harddrives, replaced the IDE cables, replaced the power supply, swapped out different ram chips, and even went so far as to swap out different cd/dvd-roms. System is stripped bare, no added on PCI cards, etc. Virus checking is disabled in bios. I've updated the BIOS firmware. This mobo supports SATA, and with a SATA drive, windows will install fine, but the SATA drive is not mine, and this comp will only have IDE drives, in which case windows refuses to install properly. Just in case, I also tested both drives, which are IBM drives, with the IBM Drive Fitness Test, and all test's came out 100% perfect no problems. I also erased the mbr and wrote all 0's to the drive just in case it might have been a boot sector problem. Then a clean format using NTSF. Still no luck. Then I tried the recovery console, and did the fixmbr command, as well as the fixboot command at one time or another. Tried again and still no luck. I've must of tried to install windows 40 times over the past 3 days, and it once it gets past the initial first install, once it restarts it will never boot up and just go right back into the initial install to no avail.

PLEASE HELP. This is killing me, for I thought I knew computers but I'm NOT seeing what the problem could be, I've narrowed it down by replacing nearly everything but I'm still not getting it. Can't think of anything else. I'm leaving the country in tomorrow night, so I pray someone will respond to this ASAP for I need it up and running before I go. Any ideas? Thanks for any at all.

It looks like the system is set to ONLY boot from the CD. That would explain the No System Disk when you pull the CD and why it restarts the install. Go into your CMOS setup and look for the boot sequence. Change it toi boot from the hard drive first, then the CD.

Swapping the mobo & CPU out seems a little extreme. This does sound like this is going to be a hard problem to fix.

Here's my thoughts on the subject - you say the blue screen part of the install runs, but it doesn't get into the GUI part. As far as I know the blue screen part only copies needed files to somewhere ready for install. So when you are rebooting something is deleting these files. Just wish I knew what.

The only things I can suggest after that little speech is to:

a) Check the CD to ensure it's not scratched etc. (What kind of CD is it anyway? Full Windows CD, PC manufactorer's supplied disk?)
b) Reset the BIOS settings to their defaults. That will ensure the BIOS isn't doing anything it shouldn't.

Sorry I can be much more help than that.

Good advice guys, but both tried already long ago. ScottGem, even if the bios was set to boot of cd first, without the cd in it should try to boot off the card drive, in which case it won't. LTheobald, totally agree, but that's the problem to, is WHAT is causing this. DFT (imb utility) shows the drives to be in perfect condition, wrote all 0's to it before the install. Windows install fine, but won't boot into the GUI. Also reset the bios with most of the different configurations I've used (and I must of used dozens upon dozens by now). This is a windows cd that I've installed tons of times before, and it's still in perfect condition, BUT just in case, to troubleshoot the cd as well, I borrowed a friend of mines Win xp pro sp2, and I get the same thing. I don't think I could narrow it down any further :confused:

Edit: Something just noticed, guess I never paid attention before. While using the drive as a secondary (booting off the sata), even after a clean reformat, wiped it with all 0's, ntfs, etc, the 20gb drive only shows 19gb available, with 65mb already used. Is this normal? Possibly causing the problem?

The only way the machine would go next to the hard drive is if the hard drive was included in the boot sequence. The fact that you are getting a "No System Disk" error when you boot without the CD says that either the Hard drive is not part of the boot sequence or its hasn't been formatted as a system disk. But if the Win XP install went through a format, then it should be setup as a system disk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

But if the Win XP install went thru a format, then it should be setup as a system disk.

Exactly! Thus... now what? =P It's funny to, because it boots up the cd again (since it doesn't find a system disk) and wants to install windows again, and if I were to continue with the windows setup, without first deleting the partition, the windows cd will even say that there is a previous installation of windows already installed on that partition, blah blah. Yet, it won't boot from that windows, I have no idea what's up.

What does it say in the CMOS?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

what does it say in the CMOS?

What do you mean? You mean the BIOS? It see's the drive. Even in the recovery console it will see a C:\Windows. If I choose repair, it will ask me which windows do I want to repair, showing me the one I just installed as well. It just won't boot from it. If I have it boot off the hard drive first, then after the initial install when it goes to reboot, and it says "press any key to boot from cd", and I don't press any key, it will just hang at the ". . . . . " in which case it count 6 dots I believe (where normally after the countdown it would boot from the HD).

No I mean the CMOS. There is a CMOS chip on the motherboard that holds settings that the BIOS reads on power up. Some people mistakenly refer to that as the BIOS, but its correctly known as the CMOS settings.

The main thing I'm referring to is your boot sequence. What does that say in the CMOS settings?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spixe

it will ask me which windows do I want to repair, showing me the one I just installed as well.

Now that may provide a clue. You didn't replace the existing install, you added another. So you didn't format the drive unless you installed in a separate partition. Either way, I think the problem may be that your Primary DOS partition (C) is not set as bootable. What other OS do you have on it?