Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected

after adding a cd reader I get a black screen with a blinking underscore now. I added the reader to the grey IDE connector.

yes the hdd has the black and the cd burner has the grey connector. they also have the white box at the back, that is the way to have master and slave I think w/o cable select.. My old comp was an asus p4s533. I will try to replace my old hdd with a new one that I bought yesterday and try to install win xp on it. Hopefully the cd burner will be recognized.

Is your new hard disk S-ATA or IDE?

come ppl give me something I'm getting suicidal here. Should I just return the mobo and get another one?

I just realised. My cd burner is 3 to 4 years old. Will my new mobo still recognize it?

Alright, I've had the same problem. I tried various fixes that i've read on numerous forums, none of which worked. I ended up solving it myself. The problem is that the drivers that are loaded on ur hdd are from and old chipset config. It doesnt matter if the chipset is close to the same, its all about i/o configuration. The verisign code is for ur old install. If u were able to get to the device manager, u would see the verisign code in the device properties. Verisign codes are specific to each install depending on chipset/hardware configuration. What u will need to do is find a cd drive (maybe dvd) that ur current windows install has the drivers already loaded for. I was trying to repair an install of windows with a sony dvdrw present. Wouldnt boot at all. So i swapped it out for a lite-on cd burner, booted first go. I hope this helps u get to the problem.