can't boot from Windows CD

[Inspektor]

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.

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

[profdlp]

What exact Brand & Model# is your Motherboard?

[Inspektor]

this is my config, I should've included this info in my previous post, sorry about that

Barton 2500+ Mobile @3200+
1GB Kingston RAM DDR 3200
Leadtek Geforce 6600GT AGP
NEC DVD-Burner
LG CD-ROM Drive
10GB Seagate HDD
40GB Maxtor HDD
Gigabyte 7VT600P-RZ mobo

[profdlp]

There appear to be several revisions (1002, 1003) of that board. Does your bios resemble the pic I've attached?

Are you able to set the 2nd & 3rd boot devices to "None" or "Disabled", leaving the CD drive as the 1st (and only) boot device?

You don't have two (or more) optical drives do you? If so, try booting with the Windows CD in the other one(s).

Does your machine have a floppy drive? You could try going old-school and booting from a floppy with cdrom support. www.bootdisk.com has a number of them to choose from.

See if any of this helps. :)

[Inspektor]

I am pretty sure that I can't set the 2nd and 3rd booting device to disabled/none, but I will check again.

I do have a floppy disk drive, it's disconnected though, but I should have an FDD cable somewhere. I'll try that. Thanks for your suggestions

[profdlp]

One other thing I should have mentioned: Watch the screen closely when you first go through the POST process. At some point, you (hopefully) will see a notice saying "Press any key to boot from CD".

If that happens - press away! :D