Jito463

Both optical drives are IDE, so that shouldn't be an issue (I added the second one later, to test if the first was the problem). I did consider the bootfix.bin as the culprit, but didn't consider removing it from the image. However, given that it works on another PC, I can't imagine that being the case. It's just the standard bootfix for i386/AMD64, nothing has been modified. I've even used the same bin file for standard Windows XP discs (not x64). I appreciate the suggestion, though. I suppose I should mention a few specs, now that I think about it. The motherboard is a Gigabyte K8N Ultra-9. It has an Athlon X2 4400+ with 4 x 512MB Corsair XMS sticks. I've considered removing some of the memory, but I'm not getting any stability issues, so I doubt that it's related. However, I may test that later when I have a chance. *EDIT* On consideration, I just realized I could try a SATA DVD drive instead. When I have an opportunity to power down my primary PC, I'll pull the optical drive from it and test again. Still, if anyone has encountered this issue before, it would be helpful to hear your experiences with it. Even if you never did ultimately resolve the problem.

Ok, so I've got an unusual issue here. I've figured out a workaround, but I'm still curious to determine why this is happening, so as to prevent it from occurring in the future. Searches online yielded no results, save for what I had already determined myself. I'm attempting to reinstall XP Pro x64 on my backup computer. When I attempt to boot from the CD, it just skips that step and boots straight to the HDD. I've already made sure CD/DVD is the first boot device, and I've even taken the step of hitting F12 to choose the first boot device on startup. This isn't an issue with the DVD drive or the disc, as I've used 3 different discs on 3 different drives (including an external). I've also tested one of the discs on another laptop (just to make sure it would boot), and it did indeed begin the setup from the CD. So the discs are fine, and the drives are fine. I've tried using my current 36GB Raptor drive, and a test 40GB IDE drive I had laying around, the same situation occurs with both. However, if I completely wipe the 40GB (haven't tested yet with the Raptor, and don't want to until I'm sure everything else is working fine) - including all partition information - then the CD will boot without incident. I'm currently installing on the 40GB to make sure nothing is wrong with the system, before I proceed to wipe my main drive; but I was curious to find out if anyone else has encountered this issue and/or knows what the cause is and how to rectify it. It just dawned on me that I haven't tested with another version of Windows, but I doubt that would matter since I've already determined the discs work. Still, any insight would be appreciated.