It does complete POST, says " No boot device available". With the IDE
cables in place, it says" Press F1 to retry boot".
I scrubbed the hard drive, made a new partition, reformatted and
reloaded XP. Still no boot.
I loaded Ubuntu in a separate partition. It will not boot.
I replaced the CMOS battery (again), still no boot.
Thanks for all your suggestions.
At this point, I give up. Sure is a mystery.
Here is the boot.ini file. Looks the same as on a properly booting machine.
[boot loader]\par
timeout=30\par
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\\WINDOWS\par
[operating systems]\par
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect\par
}
On 1/5/2011 9:50 AM, Tom Mayer SC wrote:
> Russ
>
> I've reviewed your post and the replies to date. It appears to me that
> this is not a hardware issue because the computer will BOOT (load XP)
> from the HD without problems under certain conditions. Therefor, I
> would concentrate on software (particularly the BIOS).
>
> I would try a normal boot with the BIOS first set to default and ,if
> needed, set to "safe" (or similar wording) if available. As a further
> test of the BIOS, if needed, I would disconnect the IDE cable(s) and
> see if the computer completes the POST.
>
> Based on your efforts to date, you have probably tried the forgoing,
> but I just thought I would try to help.
>
> Tom
>>
>>>>> -------- 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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