The plot: in BIOS I set CD as first boot device, but not one (of 3 – XP SP1, XP SP3, Vista) Win installation CDs would start, I kept on receiving the same message on the black screen: Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot Device. I checked the CDs at my old home PC and at my office PC and they were all OK, they started normally. So I took Linux Ubuntu 7 Live CD, and it booted with no problems, so I formatted the hard drive (Hitachi, 500gb, SATA) using gparted: I set 2 partitions, one as FAT32 and the other as NTFS, then rebooted, inserted Win installation CD, but again I got the black screen along with the: Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot Device. It's interesting that all bootable CDs start normally (like Hiren's Tools, KillDisc, all Linux distributions I own...) except Win CD. I even brought installation CD from my work PC, and still nothing, the same message... I called my vendor, but all I got was the line that they sold me a tested and functional machine, and that I should ask an installation expert for help (?!). What I'm asking is there a reasonable explanation why Win SetUp won't start, is there anything I can do without plugging my old hard drive into my new PC (I can't do the opposite, for my old motherboard has only IDE slots, and my new hard drive is SATA). Thanks in advance.

You might use the working cdrom and plug it to the nonworking pc just for installing windows. I guess, that will work for you. Please send a reply, if you solved the problem !!!

I suspect there is a setting in BIOS relating to fastboot or some such that is causing you to either miss or bypass the "Press Any Key to boot from CD" message which is supposed to display for about 10 sec. Goin' Fishin' (Some day)

You might use the working cdrom and plug it to the nonworking pc just for installing windows. I guess, that will work for you. I've tried that, didn't work, motherboard doesn't recognize my old cdrom I suspect there is a setting in BIOS relating to fastboot or some such that is causing you to either miss or bypass the "Press Any Key to boot from CD" message which is supposed to display for about 10 sec. QuickBoot was Disabled, but even when Enabled I get the same message. I have MB Asus M2N68, supporting only one IDE drive.

Have you also tried to change the setting for the Controller from AHCI to IDE? This could also help in your case. Or can you press a function key like F11 or F12 to get a boot selection menu at startup? Please send a reply, if you solved the problem !!!

Have you also tried to change the setting for the Controller from AHCI to IDE? This could also help in your case It would be easy if I had Gigabyte's MB, but Asus BIOS interface is very poor and I couldn't find that option anywhere. Under IDE config all I found was Enable/Disable option. Or can you press a function key like F11 or F12 to get a boot selection menu at startup? Yes I tried that too (it's F8 on Asus) but after the main boot screen: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/... I got this like at the beginning: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/...

Is you mainboard that old? Somewhere under Advanced Options, you normally should find such option. So another question: Is it possible to boot from lets say a USB Stick? So you might make a USB Stick bootable, including CDROM driver vor DOS and then install windows by changing to CDROM, change directory (cd \i386) and start windows setup by typing winnt. Please send a reply, if you solved the problem !!!