After finding the XP tweaks on this web page 6 mo.'s ago, I finding how much it helped my system, I have once again come looking for help. I recently received a message "boot device not detected" if anyone here knows of any fixes around it I would appreciate it.

Windows XP home
P4 1.79
Seagate Baracuda 80GB HD
756 MB DDR ram
Radeon 9700 pro

'boot device not detected'?

When does the message come up, during the boot process, right after the BIOS beep and memory count? Are you able to boot up, or is the machine dead?

Typically 'boot device not detected' means it can't find a way to startup the computer. First thing I'd check is the BIOS settings. You can get into the BIOS during the memory count, using by hitting del, F1 or F2. It depends on the machine. Under the advanced BIOS options (usually) there's something called boot sequence... make sure it's set to like a:\, c:\, something. Specifically, make sure c:\ is before cd-rom or something. It may not be in the startup list at all, which would be an easy fix.

On the other hand, if it is, then your harddrive might be having some serious issues. I won't load you down with specifics until I've got a bit more info... I'd hate to lead you astray.

It shows booting to the hard drive in the BIOS, I tried using my repair disk & it won't repair it. Then I tried re-intalling xp & where it lists your hard drive it says <Unknown>

yea, it sounds like you're having some sort of drive issue or something. Does the BIOS detect the drive at all? I'll hazard a guess and say it's not.

In that case, if you're in warranty with whoever built the machine, I'd talk to them. I'll bet you're not, though.

Basically, at this point you'll need to crack the case. It may be a loose connection (easy fix, happened to me before) but it's also possible the hard drive completely died on you. Was it making any wierd noises or doing odd stuff before this happened?

Anyway, what I'd suggest doing is opening up the computer case. I'm going to assume you really don't know what you're doing inside a computer case... if you do, you can probably ignore the next part.

1. Unplug the power to the computer! (very important)
2. Open up your case.

Your harddrive is going to have two connections... a power cable and an IDE cable. the IDE cable is a ribbon...really wide and typically white with a bunch of wires (80 for ATA100+). The power cable is like 4 wires, red, yellow, and two black. I'd take this one out and replace it with a different one (you should have extras floating around inside the case). Then just push the IDE cable back in on both the HD side and the motherboard side. You shouldn't need to unscrew the harddrive.

Then just make sure you're not grounding anything, plug the system in and turn it back on. The hard drive should immediately spin up... it's kind of a whining noise. If the BIOS still doesn't detect the drive, it could be the IDE cable, the drive itself, or possibly the harddrive controller.

Anyway, I'm attaching some pictures of what a hard drive and IDE cable look like. If you need more help, feel free to ask.

I already received a new hard drive from the maker & that one didn't work either. There wasn't any funny noises. I know my way around the case but novice @ best. I can install some stuff, but not familiar with other things. I ran diagnostics on the hard drive & it failed, I'm just wondering if there's something else that could be affecting it, the ide cable looked good no tears in it.

well, if you've replaced the drive and it's doing the same thing, there're only a few possibilities left.

1. Bad IDE cable. You may wanna try to switching it out... you've probably got one to a cd-rom...just use that temporarily.

2. Bad jumper settings on the back of the drive. It'll need to be either slave or master, depending. Make sure it's set right. Also, some drives have 'master with slave' and 'master without slave' settings. If you need more info on this, lemme know.

3. Bad IDE controller. If this is the case, you're out of luck. Basically a part of the motherboard died... there's no way to fix it except to buy a new motherboard. That's really not as bad as it may sound... you can get a brand new motherboard for as little as $60. But it still sucks.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I can think of.

Got the second hard drive, tried using cd-rom cables didn't work. The main problem is when I go to partion windows it keeps doing it unsuccesfully. Then I tried another way & it said the disk was missing files for xp to continue installing. Ran a diagnostic on it & that HD failed too.

welp, it's not the cables, obviously, so either it's the jumper settings on the back of the drive, or your IDE controller is dying. My personal intuition is saying it's your IDE controller, and thus your motherboard. Sorry man. Is it an older computer?

Before you go tossing it out the window, you may want to get a professional opinion. If you have any computer shops nearby they may be willing to diagnose it for cheap. It could be something simple I'm missing. I doubt it, but it's always possible.

Sorry I couldn't help you out. I'm going to start work on a "how to build your own computer" tutorial soon. May come in handy for you. Anyway, even if the motherboard ends up being toasted, keep all your drives/cables/cpu/RAM/peripherals... they're sure to all be fine.

Lol, I'm getting a third hard drive after they second the second one is defective. I asked them about the IDE controller, & they were sure it was not the motherboard. I asked them how they knew & they said based by the diagnostics ran, so I asked them if they just had a habit of sending crap to their customers, they didn't like that too much! Basically, they are having a technician come out & do it now, so he can run all the tests I ran & then later determine it is in fact the motherboard.

haha, that's pretty good. Well, I definetely wish you the best of luck. Be sure to come back and let me know what ended up being wrong.

Sure will, I decided I am going to build a new rig after this incident.

good idea. It's amazing how much more stable a computer is when you build it yourself (from quality parts).

Who the fuck is this guy?

Very nice post, i can see you are very educated with your creative use of grammar. Who am I? Someone who stumbled upon the XP tweaks a few months ago, kept the page bookmarked, and is coming back asking for help when my XP took a dump. If that's ok with you.
Thx. for the help satis!

no problem guy. And ignore him, he's just combative.