Russ,
    This may me a long shot, but when I read your steps, it did not say if
you had removed the partition and recreated it.  Did you try that step?
Sometimes the partition table gets screwed up.  I had a Win98 install move
like sludge one time.  I blew away the partition and made a new one.  The
install was fast and the OS booted fine.

just my two cents,
Derek

On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 3:33 PM, Russ Cox <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> HDD does show up and I have set to boot second, then later to boot first. I
> also swapped in another HDD with no change. Then put the original HDD back
> in for all the other things I've tried. Still won't boot. I also downloaded
> and tried to reload the Bios, but it says the present BIOS is the same and
> exits the installation.
>
>
> On 1/3/2011 8:50 AM, Hachmeyer, Mr. Paul S. wrote:
>
>> Russ -
>> Never hurts to ask and check the basics  -  does the HDD show up in the
>> bios properly, and is it in the boot sequence?
>> Paul Hachmeyer
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Personal Computer Hardware discussion List [mailto:
>> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Russ Cox
>> Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2011 7:18 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] no boot?
>>
>> Checked out the suggested file; bootloader is exactly the same as on a
>> correctly booting XP computer.
>>
>> On 1/1/2011 2:46 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>>
>>> Check the boot.ini file.
>>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022
>>>
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject: [PCBUILD] no boot?
>>> From: Russ Cox<[log in to unmask]>
>>> Date: Fri, December 31, 2010 6:41 pm
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> I am refurbishing a Dell Inspiron 4500, 1.4 GHz P4, 128 MB RAM, 120 GB
>>> HDD. I have loaded XP Home several times and it seems to load ok. But
>>> when I take the XP CD out, it won't boot from the HDD.
>>> Here's what I've tried:
>>> Loaded XP Home, no problem
>>> Removed CD, won't boot
>>> Reloaded XP 2X more, same result
>>> Replaced hard drive, same result. Put original HDD back in Reset CMOS,
>>> no better Tested memory, no problem Repaired MBR (fixmbr) with XP CD,
>>> no improvement Repaired boot sector(fixboot) with XP CD, no
>>> improvement Ran chkdsk, said no problem, but on second try said there
>>> were some errors, did not offer to mark bad sectors ??
>>> If I put the XP CD in the drive, then do_not_ press "start with CD",
>>> it starts fine from the HDD??
>>> Short test and long test with Seagate HDD test shows no problems.
>>> Replaced the IDE cable, no improvement.
>>> Any ideas what might be causing this?
>>>
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>
>        PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
>                    visit our download web page at:
>                 http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml
>

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