Hey Everyone.
I have been trying to get this computer running for sometime.... its not my first build but deff, it is proving to be my mot difficult... although i dont see why....

So ive got a lanparty LT p35 with 4 gigs of memory, ive got an intel core http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core 2 duo dual core processor, and the hard drive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive .... well this is the problem...

The computer will start to boot up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting . but it gets to "boot disk failure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failure insert new disk ..." now i know its not a bad drive.... because it does the same with all 3 that i have tried (that i know work) the bios does see the hdd. i tried an install of windows xp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP (an oem 32 bit just to try it) the install starts well, but then when the compute reboots (which is normaly for the xp install) i get the boot disk error again.

anyone have an ideas? all my drives are IDE

Check your RAM and your HD. MemTest86 and DFT are some very basic but nice programs that should help. Also, remove any USB devices you have plugged in.

Do you have more than one harddrive installed in your system?

Yeah, if this is doing this with multiple hard drives, then I would have to say this sounds like a ram issue. The fact that everything else seems to work makes me think the motherboard is not the causer.

What is your boot sequence silly i know but like to ask

Yeah, boot sequence is my main question. That's what prompted me to ask about the number of HDs you have in the system. Just to be safe, keep the one you intend on using as your primary drive connected by itself...and no others.

well i have 1 hard drive in for this (ive tried with 3 differnet drives) i have tried with only 1 stick of memory in it. i dont have any usb plugged in. and my boot sequence, well i have changed it tried switchin gthe sequence, but the one i have it set at now is CD USB Harddrive. i have had it harddrive cd auto...

might sound dumb but try a different IDE ribbon cable, if you ahven't already.

i have.... i tried 2 before the one ive got in now.... i really thought it was that 1st one..... this problem really stinks.... its a pain!! i am pretty good with computers and i cant find a solution... keep the ideas coming people! hopefully one will work

and i can deffinitally see the hard drives.... i have booted into a couple different live CD's and can see the hard drive... as well as start a windows install onto it....

If you are pretty sure it's not the boot sequence, you can try check how the partition is being set up (primary, logical, active, MBR, etc...)

Right of the bat I would assume it's a boot sequence issue, but I have seen this kind of error also when you install the OS in a partition that it's not bootable and still can be accessed by a boot disk...

Give a try to FDISK (or similar) thing...

By the way, you're not running RAID arrays are you?

no i am not running Raid... i will try setting up the partitions with Gparted... that way i KNOW whats going on

well i cant run gparted it tells me half way through booting the cd it cant find it... thats nice....

TheTeZ can you please tell us the boot sequence that is in the bios please there should be four listed

no problem...

1st - Cd/DVD
2nd Hdd
3rd - USB
4th Boot Other Device - Enabled

Do you have harddrive and cd rom on one cable? If so so is harddrive/cd rom master / slave settings right? harddrive master cd slave

look at page 69 in manual