Pc not booting up if IDE cable is plugged into dvd drive

[demonwithin]

my pc isnt booting up if the IDE cable is plugged into my dvd drive, if i unplug it boots up as far as it can (new HD so no operating system and cant install with this problem persisting). it just goes to the very first screen (press del to enter setup) and stays there, if i unplug the IDE from my dvd drive while its powered up and stuck on the screen it will instantly progress to the next screen where i need to insert the boot disk to install the OS (far as i can tell it will sit on the boot screen forever unless i power down or unplug the IDE. I used to use all the parts except the HD n that comp and when i took it apart and stored it all components were working properly. Any help is much appreciated.

 

[CaedenV]

When a computer first turns on then it must pass POST (Power On Self Test) which ensures that at leas on a basic level, everything is in functioning order.

So basically there is something wrong with your DVD drive, and it will likely need to be replaced. If you have been fumbling about with your computer then there is a chance that you have the IDE cable plugged in backwards, and some mobos get rather confused if you do that. Annother thing is that there may be a bad disc in the drive preventing it from initializing and sending the POST clear signal to the mobo. But if your cables are fine, and there is no disc in the drive, then it is time for a new drive.

Thankfully new DVD burners are less than $20 these days, but they are SATA, not IDE. If you need an IDE then you need to look at the used market, and those can vary in price and quality pretty wildly.

If your system cannot take a newer SATA drive then it may be time to fork over the money for a new or newer system.

 

[demonwithin]

thank for the tips, i did have a disk in it, removed it and no change, tried another cd drive and the same problem happened but there is a chance it is also bad, ill pull the one out of this comp and try it in a few and hopefully that will solve it. and i tried a few different IDE cables and swap them backwards just to check and nothing changed, all else fails ill throw the HD in this comp and install the OS then stick it back into the old pos comp lol

 

[CaedenV]

Windows is typically tied to the northbridge chipset, so if your other system is different from the one having issues then you may not be able to simply move the HDD over.

There are ways around this as you can use the paid version of Acronis to make a hardware agnostic image that will port over to new hardware, but even then there are a few limitations.

Have you tried doing a jumper reset of BIOS? A bad BIOS can do all sorts of weird and annoying things, and resetting it every 2-3 years or so can sometimes fix little glitches. Just be sure to go back into it and enter in whatever settings you need if you are overclocking, or have other non-standard setups on your rig.