keeps asking for boot disks XP

[natedeia]

i have installed XP several times and twice on this particular HD. Now i have a new PC which i wanted to put my HD in. i simply took it out and hoped it would just boot up but it would not. so i put it back in the PC it came from and now it asks for a boot disk, says something like can not find boot file. so i put the disks in about 15 times already screwing with it, trying everything and finally i broke down and deleted the partition and reformatted, but right before that i went to a friends and hooked it up as a slave and backed up some stuff from all 3 profiles it has on it, so it is not broke completely.
QUESTION: why does it ask for the disks every time? it just goes in this cycle, no matter what i do it seems to ask for the disks.......heelllpp plleeaassee

 

[natedeia]

(((((the below is the faq779-3930, all this happens until i get to the end,it will not boot from the CD!! please, anyone, anyone, thanks in advance!!)))))))))))

Use the arrow keys to highlight the partitions, and then press the <D> key.

Press the <Enter> key.

Press the <L> key to confirm deletion of the partition.

Use the arrow keys to highlight the Unpartitioned space.

Press the <Enter> key to install.
The message A new partition for Windows XP has been created on (hard drive size) MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
This partition must now be formatted. appears.

Press the <Enter> key to start formatting.

NOTE: After completing the format, setup will examine your computer and copy files to the Windows installation folders. This process will take some time. Once it has completed, setup will initialize and then restart the computer.

Do not press any keys when the message Press any key to boot from the CD appears. Let Windows boot normally.

The amount of time it takes to complete the above process will vary depending upon the size of the hard drive and the speed of your system. You will not be prompted for anything during this time.

After the computer restarts, setup will continue with a graphical user interface. You will be required to input information during this phase

 

[bcastner]

At the end, you do not want to boot from CD.
Remove the CD.

 

[garebo]

sometimes you have to go into the bios and change the bootup drive from your cdrom to the c:\drive, then reboot and all will be fine, provided that you have installed the os of course.

 

[natedeia]

thanks for answering me back, appreciate that, it seems that the computer is not actually even getting to the point of booting from the CD, right after it detects the Primay , Slave, etc and has all the stats of the PC, right at the bottom it then asks for the diskette. but i will take your advice on the bios. thanks

 

[garebo]

If you have already installed win xp then boot up, go into bios, thats usually done pressing delete but it could be something else, it is usually listed on the monitor as it is booting.
Go into bios and set the bios to boot from hard drive 0. Right now you have it set to boot from floppy, that is why you are being asked for the boot disk. Set your bios to boot from hard drive 0, not hard drive 1 or 2, or anything else, from the hard drive, probably hard drive 0, it could say ide or ata or something like that, but its the hard drive. Right now you have it booting from the floppy (also called removable the bios).