windows xp help

This is totally f****d.. I helped a friend build a new computer, and everything seemed to go smoothly, but xp will not boot without the cd in the drive. Without the XP cd in the drive, it goes through an endless reboot cycle, no matter what option I choose (Normal boot/last good/safe mode/etc). I don't know how this is possible. Have tried to reinstall, but the same thing happens. wtfirl

I was thinking boot order could be f*****g it over, but I doubt it. At this point I have no ideas. (its floppy/cdrom/hd now, changing to floppy/hd/cdrom)

It should always be floppy/Hdd/cd.

Aside from that, sounds like your install didn't complete successfully. If you've tried multiple times, I'd say better try deleting the partition and recreating it during setup.

tips for the novice.

Always have a partition used for nothing other than your operating system, a gig or two is plenty. Theres no point in cluttering and bogging down your operating system by installing a bunch of trash in c:\program files\. I personally use g:\program files\ on a seperate partition and my operating system thanks me, so does my defrag time, and my program access speed. Not to mention the bonuses you get from storing shit like huge patch files etc on a partition that isnt touched when you redo your o/s.

K, now that thats over....endless reboot sounds like somethings corrupt, or not set up right. start by stripping the system down to one chip of ram, a hard drive, video card, mouse, keyboard, and cd-rom drive. Now try installing windows and see how it turns out....also...do like i id, install it on like a 2-4 gig partition, and save the rest of the space for a seperate partition. Even if you dont want to do that, at least make sure you format before reinstalling.

You can also try turning bios options down....most boards have a failsafe mode that turns all the non essential options that are supposed to boost performance off.

to be totally honest, sounds like somethings wrong post install though, because it would either be saying it cant find the nt file, or it would be saying to insert operating system disk if windows didnt get installed, unless you have some weird hard drive conflict....on that note, make sure you are jumpered right....if there's one universal rule, systems all behave differently when somethings messed up.