No way of installing OS

[jr2007]

I recently built a system with a mate and found that although i can get into bios ok, no matter how hard i try i cant get it to boot from a floppy disk or cd. Tried changing boot loading by checking cd drive first and floppy drive first so i could install os but its not working.

I also tried a USB floppy drive and that didn't work. Everything is detected but it isn't actually reading anything in the drives. Anyone know what the issue might be?

[pam123]

Specs?
OS?

[FireByyrd]

Don't install XP while you have a USB plugged in, it messes up the install.

[nosefirst]

Tell us what happens when you try to boot from HD.

[jr2007]

Sorry for not providing details earlier, specs:

Sempron 2800+
384MB DDR RAM
40GB HD
DVD-ROM drive
3-port firewire card (might this be an issue??)
64MB geforce4 mx 460 video card
Not sure about mobo cos got from friend in just anti-static bag with couple of cds and has Biostar BIOS.
As you can tell, this pc was made on budget.

I'm trying to install XP home originally but I've also tried 98 SE of which neither are recognised as disk in drive. When I first tried booting I had system disk failure but my friend fixed this and now it goes through POST until a screen which says Biostar. Basically, in the bios it has detected HD and goes through current boot procedure

floppy --> DVD ROM --> HD

But the issue is if there is a floppy or cd in drives, it doesnt check them and goes straight to HD. If you need any more information I will post as soon as I can.

[BrokenKingdom]

Ugh if you have a copy of 98 SE burn it (and I don't mean make a copy) that OS is the work of Satan. Haha

Are you trying to install the OS from say like an E-machines or Dell restoration disk? Because it is not possable to install an OS from those disks onto another PC. If you are then that is most definatly the problem. Also unplug anything "cosmetic" that will need a seperate driver IE: your firewire card and make sure not to have anything plugged into your usb ports. Sometimes that causes an issue.

[glc]

BrokenKingdom - the issue is it WILL NOT BOOT from ANY CD or floppy - which exact CD or floppy is immaterial as long as it's bootable. Let's point the troubleshooting toward that aspect - which is certainly a hardware issue, not a software issue, and opinions of a particular operating system are off topic for this thread.

You need to go into the bios setup and confirm that the floppy controller and all IDE controllers are enabled. You then need to check both the cabling and jumpering of the drives.

[pam123]

When you boot the computer press the pause/break key, it's in that row of keys to the right of the F keys.
That will bring up the initial screen which ofter flashes by to fast to be read.
At the top of that screen will the model name/number of the Biostar board.
Copy that out for us and then press Delete or whatever key is designated to go to the bios menu.
First note if your board is keeping proper time (if it's not holding the correct time please post back with that info. as well. ).
Then go through the menus.
The order you've given us in incorrect for having the board boot from the cd-rom.
So start with making sure the floppy and IDE controllers are enabled, as glc has [ointed out, and then make sure the boot order is, CD-ROM, HDD, floppy.
The screen should show Primary IDE HDD and Secodary IDE CD-ROM (both drives will be seen as master by the bios.
Make sure you save the settings before you exit (Usually F10 but check the bottom of the menu screen).
The XP cd will should already be in the drive when you do this.
When it boots the window that comes up, in addition to various info, it should read at the bottom of the screen : Press any key to boot from CD-ROM.
If it skips to booting from the HDD again your bios is not holding it's settings and either the cmos battery needs replacing, which is cheap, or the board needs replacing, which will cost more.