I hope someone can help me with this... please bear with me: "I bought a new 200gb hard drive and was told it was 'easy to install' I pluged the same leads out of my old one into the new one and started the PC with the 'XP Home Instalation CD' in the CDROM drive... The disc didn't even try to run! A friend of mine downloaded a floppy boot disk for XP-HOME from the microsoft website (This was made up of 6 Discs). Inserted Disc 1, started the PC and it all seemed to work. It went through the sequence, I inserted all 6 discs in order when prompted and all seemed OK. After that it said insert your 'XP -HOME INSTALATION' disc which I did.. it now ran the disc and all seemed OK. It formated the drive first and then said it was installing XP. After a while it went through the 0 - 100% instalation and then said 'We now need to re-start your PC to finish the instaltion. The PC re-booted and it now reads: "Searching for Boot Record from CDROM..OK Press any key to boot from CD.....Error loading operating system_" H.E.L.P.!!!!! Any help is much appreciated here as it's really winding me up now!!!! Thanks guys - Len

"I pluged the same leads out of my old one into the new one and started the PC with the 'XP Home Instalation CD' in the CDROM drive... The disc didn't even try to run! " I guess your 200GB HDD of unspecified brand name must have been an IDE HDD and I hope you have used the 80Wire Ultra ATA cable to get its full speed. Be that as it may,it looks like you have installed the HDD OK even though you did not mention you had made sure the Jumper was Master or cable Select. I guess the reason why a legitimate WinXP Bootable Operating System CD did not boot when started with in the CD /DVD device is that your BIOS boot order might have been HDD before CDD. If you access the BIOS setup by pressing appropriate BIOS keys like Del , F1 or F2 or any other key or key combination appropriate for the Motherboard or Brand name PC, and change the Boot order or Boot Sequence in one of the main menus or Submenus by navigating using the appropraite keys as shown in the legend in the BIOS Setup window and Save the changes and Exit to continue the booting processes , the BIOS will direct the search to look for booting instructions from CD/DVD drive. I suggest you start all over again by Power OFF and On and then press Del or whatever key your screen says to enter setup or Enter BIOS Setup or Enter CMOS . In the BIOS setup page, FIRST check the legend to learn how to navigate and select or change items. You will see what keys to use. Make sure the Year Date and Time are OK and if not set them correctly. Look for Boot or Boot Order in its Main Menu at the top or in one of the submenus. Change the Boot order to Boot device #1 =CD #2 =FDD #3=HDD. Press F10 to save the changes and Click Yes to affirm to boot. Place the WinXP CD in the CD/DVD Drive before booting. Press any key when prompted to boot from CD. In the Welcome to WindowsXP Setup screen press ENTER key. Don't choose R to Repair at this time. Press F8 to License agreement. If offred a Repair option this time ( previously declined) choose and press R and show your previously attempted installed drive. When everything is copied and System will display the message about Automatically Restarting" or 'hastened' by your Enter key. Let it by either. On reboot the Screen will prompt about pressing any key to boot from CD. DO NOT Press any key now to boot from CD. Let it bypass the CD and boot from HDD to complete the setup. Important points to remember: 1. BIOS BOOT ORDER. 2. Pressing a Key to Boot from CD. 3.Pressing ENTER key and AVOIDING R key on First Welcome Screen 4. Choosing R the SECOND time it is offered to Repair installed WinXP. 5. Wait or press Enter when ready to Automatically reboot after initial copying of files. 6. NOT TO HIT KEY BORAD TO Boot from CD Second time; Just sitting and watching the setup seeking HDD boot. Hope this helps. M

I 'believe' you need SP1 installed to use a hard drive larger than 137GB (ref www.48bitlba.com). You might have to partition and format the drive with smaller partitions before you do the install. Or you could create a new install CD with SP1 or SP2 slipstreamed on it. But wait for other opinions.

Thanks guys - I don't have a chance to try this right now but I will tomorrow... I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again - Len

This is the new HDD I bought: http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/SpinPointPSeries/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointPSeries_SP2014N.htm

Put the cd in the cd tray. Sounds like the install isn't finished. Larry "Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'" Charlie Brown.

I think this error is from the Hard drive not properly configured in the BIOS. Check to make sure your Motherboard manufacturer (or if it is a brand name PC the computer manufacturer) has any latest BIOS Update to deal with large hard drive. Posting details about the system goes along way in understanding the problem. Posting the EXACT name of a brand name PC or Exact names of major components like MoBO, CPU, Video card, Sound Card, NIC, Modem, HDD etc in a custom built PC avoids unnecessary guesswork and wrong assumptions in answering questions in a Forum. Unfortunately it is only a minority who posts adequate details about the PC in question:-( M