First post, by Synaps3
So I am trying to install windows XP on a PII compaq mobo. The BIOS is terrible. It doesn't want to boot off the hard disk for some reason. It will boot fine from the CD or floppy and proceeds to install the OS just fine, but when it reboots there is just a blinking DOS cursor as if no boot devices were found. Ctrl+Alt+Del works, so I don't think it has locked at a stage beyond the BIOS. I'm pretty sure the BIOS is the problem.
Anyway, I've dealt with a similar issue before and was able to use a bootloader on a 486 to make it boot windows NT. I tried this same bootloader on this comp and it didn't work. I also tried Plop and GAG, but I think they are just using the BIOS.
If I can detect the disk and install the OS and also use a partition manager (Boot IT NG), then there's got to be a way to make it boot.
What I am looking for is a bootloader (boot manager) that will load a small disk driver or otherwise bypass the BIOS and load the disk itself. Does this exist and has anyone encountered a problem like this before?
Additional details:
I installed windows with FAT16, 32, and NTFS. Both FAT16 and NTFS resulted in blank screen, but FAT32 said NTLDR missing. So if that changed the problem, then it must be in that area of things.
I formatted a 2048MB partition to make sure it was not too big.
BIOS detects drive as 8056MB as expected.
Windows installer and partition manager detects drive as full size.
***I also tried booting a Windows PE disk and it ran "windows xp" fine, so I know it can do it, I just have to make it boot.***
Systems:
BOARD | RAM | CPU | GPU
ASUS CUV4X-D | 2GB | 2 x PIII Tualatin ~1.5 GHz | Radeon HD 4650
DELL DIMENSION XPS 466V | 64MB | AMD 5x86 133MHz | Number Nine Ticket to Ride
Sergey Kiselev's Micro8088 10MHz | 640KB | Trident VGA