Computer won't boot from hard drive, please help!

[Miri]

I'm having a problem. I just built a new machine, and am sure that I have everything hooked up right. I have a new hard drive that I installed onto another computer & put Windows XP on it. Then, I moved the drive back to my new computer & set BIOS to boot from the hard drive. But the problem is that when it goes to boot, it gets stuck on "Verifying DMI Pool Data......." and then doesn't do anything. It's like it can't boot from the hard drive. I am very frustrated, and would appreciate any help. Just to state again, I have already checked the connections, and the hard drive is installed correctly, I am sure of this. Maybe some sort of BIOS issue or something? Please help!

[newme]

are you saying you installed your os onto the hard drive from another computer , removed and put it in your other one?

[Cricket]

Hi Miri,

Make sure that your IDE and floppy cables are installed correctly (red stripe to pin 1 on motherboard and drive) and that the drive jumpers are set properly for the type of IDE cable you're using.

For 80 wire UltraATA IDE cables, set the drive jumper to CS (cable select) and connect the blue connector to the motherboard, black connector to the drive you want as master and grey connector to the drive you want as slave.

You may want to pull your modem, NIC, soundcard and maybe even the CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD drives.

Are you getting the one good POST beep at boot up?

Have you considered installing WinXP onto the hard drive using your new computer?

Cricket

[UncleS]

Maybe this link can help:click here

[Miri]

Okay, I tried redoing the jumper settings on the hard drive and put them on cable select since it's the only drive on the cable, but it still won't boot.... I also tried restoring bios defaults, no luck.... Another thing is that when I have my CD-ROM connected the computer can't boot from it either...... Not sure what the problem is..... Any suggestions?

[RJ]

Is the hard drive properly installed in BIOS ?
Is the boot order set to boot from CDROM first ?

RJ

[Cricket]

Hi Miri,

Could you list your system specs...name of manufacturer and model of each part. Also, how are connecting to the internet?

Originally posted by Miri Another thing is that when I have my CD-ROM connected the computer can't boot from it either...... Not sure what the problem is.....

Try another CD-ROM drive in the new computer and see if it boots up okay. If it does, try the new CD-ROM drive in another computer...if that system doesn't boot up, the new CD-ROM is defective.

Cricket

[Miri]

I don't have the exact specs on me at the moment, but here goes from memory:

AMD Athlon XP 2000
IBM Deskstar 60 GB Hard drive
ECS K7VTA3 mobo w/RAID
NVidia GeForce 4
BENQ 48X12X? CD burner (can't remember)

My CD drive is not the problem because I switched it out with my old one with the same result. I am trying to boot the computer with JUST the hard drive.... without the CD rom, so the CD Rom is not part of the problem at this point.

BIOS settings are at default, & it still won't boot. My drive is being picked up okay in BIOS. It shows as Primary Master, but it still hangs at boot up on "Verifying DMI data pool........" This is so frustrating... I'm trying to be as specific as I can be at the moment. If more info needed, let me know. Oh and by the way, I connected to the internet through another computer. My new one isn't connected at all. Thanks guys.

[Cricket]

Hi Miri,

Are you getting a single POST beep at bootup?

Try booting without the hard drive installed and let us know what happens (you should get a error message on screen).

Will you be using a modem or NIC for broadband? Certain NIC's have been known to hang the system at bootup.

Cricket

[mattg2k4]

I had the exact same problem, with another ecs board (related?). I tried twice to reinstall windows w/o success (I could boot from cd rom though).

The only resolution I could find in a reasonable amount of time was to repartition, format and reinstall. Since you can't boot from cd rom, try booting from a 98 floppy and choose enable cd support and try to access the xp disk from there.

[ZANEY123]

Originally posted by Miri I have a new hard drive that I installed onto another computer & put Windows XP on it. Then, I moved the drive back to my new computer & set BIOS to boot from the hard drive. But the problem is that when it goes to boot, it gets stuck on "Verifying DMI Pool Data......." and then doesn't do anything.

That is proablly your promblem.I would read through this:

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/step/13/
http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/step/17/
http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/step/18/


then once your sure it is all hooked up properly, start the computer go into the bios and set pri master to auto and sec master to cdrom or auto.Then change the boot sequence in the bios to boot to the cdrom.

Then restart with the cd in the player and it should boot to the cd if not and stills says "verify dma pool" then restart with a Win98 boot disk and delete all partitions.Then you should be able to run the Winxp cd from the CD prompt d:\setup.exe

HTH
Zaney123

[Miri]

Still having no luck. I think my mobo may be fried, although I can't think of anything I did to fry it. I left the computer with a computer guy that I work with and he is going to try to fix it. Needless to say, I don't need the help anymore, but I very much appreciate all of you. When I get the problem resolved, I will post the solution here for those of you that are curious. Thank you!

~Miri