Won't boot from CD Rom

[Khalil]

I don't know why but I end up with all my relatives and friends computers when they need fixing.
Anyways, My neighbor was using a hacked version of XP Pro and it caught up to him, he asked me to install a legal version of XP Home OEM he bought from newegg on his Cpmpaq Presario 5000. I tried to get the cd room to boot so I can format the hard drive and install the New XP home. That didnt work, even though in bios it is set to boot from CD rom first.
I took the hard drive attached it to my machine and formated the hard drive to NTFS. Now the hard drive is back in the Compaq. It still wont boot from the CD rom, i changed cables, i changed the CD Rom itself and it still didn't work.
It keeps telling me NTLDR is missing press ctrl-alt-delete to restart.
I tried a windows 98 boot disk I have but that didnt help at all.
Any suggestions?

[doctorgonzo]

Can the CD-ROM boot from other bootable CDs?

[Khalil]

I tried my own windows xp pro and a Linux disk and neither worked.

[doctorgonzo]

Then the problem may be with the CD-ROM itself. I'd try another drive.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by doctorgonzo Then the problem may be with the CD-ROM itself. I'd try another drive.

I replaced the cable again and this time it worked, thanks for the advice.

[doctorgonzo]

Hmm, I'm stumped. Bad motherboard maybe? Bad memory? Damaged IDE controller? Have you tried moving the CD drive to different IDE channels? Is it jumpered master/slave/cable select?

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by doctorgonzo Hmm, I'm stumped. Bad motherboard maybe? Bad memory? Damaged IDE controller? Have you tried moving the CD drive to different IDE channels? Is it jumpered master/slave/cable select?

It was a bad IDE cable.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by Khalil It was a bad IDE cable.

I didnt have a chance to work on it since last post but after it formated the HD windows rebooted and I got this error
Couldn't open drive multi (0)disk(0)partition(1)
NTLDR: Couldn't open drive multi (0)disk(0)partition(1)
What is going on here? I have never encounterd this issue before.

[glc]

Now it sounds like a bad hard drive. Time to run diags.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by glc Now it sounds like a bad hard drive. Time to run diags.

It is a Quantom fireball 40 Gig HD what shall I use to diagnose it?
I have never diagnosed a HD before I normaly just replace them.

[BatMon]

CD-ROM

In this case it looks like your PC hasn’t installed a default driver for your CD-ROM. Try going on the back of your CD-ROM and clicking the drive to slave and then try starting it up. If that doesn't work try flicking the switch back to master. Does your CD-ROM work when you are in your OS? If it doesn't, your CD-ROM is broken or your BIOS are acting up. Before replacing anything do some tests like changing your CD-ROM with another computer for a test? Try to pin point the problem. Could save you some money.

[c_alvarado]

Well K. Im gonna give you a link from microsoft you can download windows XP bootable disk w/ SP2. When you download it, save it to your desktop. ITs a command prompt that will tell you what to do. Its real simple. When your down you will have 6 floppys make sure you number them in order. Once you boot to the first one it will prompt you for the rest. When your done it will ask for the cd. I bet that will solve your problem

[c_alvarado]

Here is the site! Click on the link that CREATE BOOT DISKS. Depending on which operating system it is click on the link to it. WIndows XP BOOT DISKS let me kow if u have problem

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by BatMon CD-ROM In this case it looks like your PC hasn’t installed a default driver for your CD-ROM. Try going on the back of your CD-ROM and clicking the drive to slave and then try starting it up. If that doesn't work try flicking the switch back to master. Does your CD-ROM work when you are in your OS? If it doesn't, your CD-ROM is broken or your BIOS are acting up. Before replacing anything do some tests like changing your CD-ROM with another computer for a test? Try to pin point the problem. Could save you some money.

Thank you batMon
I replaced the HD, GLC as usual was correct.
I ran diagnostics using MaxPower but it showed np with the Hard Drive.
I will just try and install this hard drive in another machine as a second hard drive see how that works.
Thanks to everyone who responded.

[glc]

Not surprising. Yes, Powermax is the correct diag for a Quantum. If you have a 40 gig, that's one of the last drives made before the Maxtor buyout, and they were pretty bad drives. I'd do a full zero fill on it before trying to reuse it, and run diags again after formatting it.