Help With First Boot

[Xaxor]

Today I finished piecing together my new system. Everything works fine when powering up, but I now end up with a message: 'Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device'. I've gone through the BIOS and noted that the Floppy drive is the first boot device. My DVD/CD-RW powers up when the computer turns on, but it doesn't stay powered. Also, I have inserted a floppy formatted with the 'create an MS-DOS start-up disk' selection in the 'Format' option of another floppy drive in a complete computer. What am I missing, or what do I need to do so I can move toward installing my OS? Thank you for your time.

 

[Murray_H]

If you've got the OS CD, stick that in the DVD drive and change settings in BIOS to boot from that drive. I dunno what you mean by the the dvd drive powering up then turns off, if you mean if flashes for a bit then stops, then that is perfectly normal

 

[lastandroid]

change settings in BIOS to boot from that drive.

That should work, however if it dosn't you can try something else.

Use a start up disk (ME or 98, the XP one might not work work). When it starts select "start computer with CD-Rom support".
Once it starts type "D:\" or what ever the name of the drive is. Type "setup" and it should start Windows install.

 

[blahblahblah]

You are trying to install windows, right? Just throw your OS CD in your optical drive and let it install itself. You shouldn't need to create a boot disk for any reason to install an OS.

If for some reason it won't install the OS, change the boot settings so your optical drive will be detected first. Then change it back once your computer is all set up.

You may also want to double check that you installed your IDE and floppy cables correctly.

 

[Xaxor]

Thanks. It turns out the ribbon cable on the DVD/CD-RW was slightly loose. Thanks again.