Hi everyone, I will appreciate any help with this one: I was installing windows on a 2nd Pc and since it won't boot I used my own PC to format the HD of the 2nd one. My PC has a Maxtor 60G HD (master) and a Fujitsu 10G HD (slave). The 2nd PC has a Samsung 2.16G HD. So I unplugged the Fujitsu and plugged the Samsung. The samsung had an unallocated space so I used "Acronis disk director" to partion that space. After this I unplugged the Samsung and plugged the Fujitsu. When I started my PC again it won't boot. By "veryfing DMI pool data" it will hang. I tried to get into safe mode but couldn't. I tried resetting the BIOS but it didn't make any difference. Then I tried to re-install windows but it only formatted the C-drive and didn't install windows because after copying the files windows reboots and then starts installing. But when it reboots I have to press a key to boot from CD and when I do that it starts all over again and doesn't install windows. On the 2nd PC I installed windows and it is working fine. So I tested both my HDs to see whether one was damaged but both were fine. Then I tried the Samsung as the only HD on my PC. It booted but then I got a blue screen with the message: A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. Then I get some steps I have to take and a stop code. I removed the Samsung and placed both my HDs back. When I started again the PC will not go further then "detecting IDE drives". After detecting the drives the screen goes blank and hangs. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is and how I can fix it? Again, I appreciate any help.

Can't help with the actual problem, but am wondering why you went thru all the trouble to put the HD on a different PC to format it. If you are using XP install disks, you can partition and format using the install disks. That won't help for this problem but can help you avoid this problem in the future. Good luck

On the 2nd PC it didn't boot from CD at first. That's why I connected the drive to my own PC. Thanks anyway!

>> But when it reboots I have to press a key to boot from CD and when I do that it starts all over again and doesn't install windows. << Of course it will. It start the process all over again. Don't press a key and let it boot from the hard disk because this time there should be a boo table partition on the hard disk. It seems that you are doing so many things wrong here it is difficult to work out exactly what the problem is. It is probably best to start again from scratch. Boot from the CD. Partition and format the hard disk. Start the install process. When it reboots, remove the CD from the drive and let it boot from the hard disk to continue with the installation. Stuart

LoL. Endless loop =)

Thanks for your reply Stuart but when I don't press the key it says it cannot boot from drive and then hangs. So that's why I did press the key. Now it doesn't even boot. After detecting the drives I get a blank screen and at this point nothing works.

Id suggest your BIOS needs changeing hit F2 while you boot up and have a serious look at your parameters