Verifying DMI Pool Data, Boot CD:

[gary727]

I have a home built PC (Windows XP Professional OS)  that has had an IDE hard drive (master) Maxtor brand, and an SATA hard drive.

I was getting a System32 error of some sort (sorry, i don't have the exact message), and it would no longer let me boot into windows.

I tried reinstalling windows on the primary hard drive (IDE) but kept getting various errors about files that could not be copied to the hard drive...again, i do not have the exact error messages, sorry.

So at this point, I thought it might be primary hard drive (IDE), so I have removed it. Now only the SATA drive is connected, along with one CD RW drive on the primary ide channel.

I have booting from the XP CD to attempt installing Windows XP again, and now all I get is "Verifying DMI Pool Data...Update Success", and then the line below it has "Boot CD:"

I cannot seem to boot to a CD.

I have checked in the bios the Boot settings, which has CD first, HDD next, and then Floppy drive.

I have removed the motherboard pin to flash it as well.

I have checked the cables to the SATA drive, and the CD RW drive, and they are connected properly.

So now I'm not sure if I have some other sort of hardware issue or what.
I don't know what else to do...any help is GREATLY appreciated

[Geek-9pm]

Quick answer.
Your CD Drive is not working well. This should be the right answer.
 -OR -
The XP install CD  has been damaged or has a file of dirt on it.
Have you used this CD before?
Can you get the system up with another OS or a diagnostic disk?
Any of the recent Live Linux CDs are a simple way to confirm the hardware is mostly good. I like Puppy. Here is one place to download it.
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/System/Operating-Systems/Linux-Distributions/Puppy-Linux-1996.shtml
But you need working computer with internet and a CD burner and a black CD-R to make a copy after the download.

[gary727]

Thank you for your response, Geek.  I really appreciate your time.

Here's what I've done:

I have since tried another CD RW drive (the computer has 2, but I disconnected one to make it as bare bones as possible until this gets figured out).

The CD RW drive works fine.

I have also tried another CD (Darin's Boot and Nuke) and it will not allow me to boot to that CD either.  I can boot to that cd on my other computer, and to the Windows XP CD that I have (on the other computer, not the one in question).

I have connected both CD RW drives (one, then the other, not both at the same time) by the main IDE connection on the board, and the secondary IDE connection on the board in case one of the IDE connections on the board itself was bad.  I have also tried another ribbon in case it was faulty.

The computer has (2) 512 sticks of RAM in it, so I have also tried removing the secondary, and then switching out the primary and secondary sticks, and I'm still in the same spot.

I have double checked all of my connections to the board and to the SATA hard drive and to the CD RW drive.

I have also looked for bulging capacitors on the board, but they all look good.

I'm a software guy, but these are things I have found to check from talking with others

I'm truly at a loss here.

[patio]

You may want to replace the CMOS battery as if it is weak you are losing the settings you changed every boot...in other words it will no longer be set to boot to CD 1st.

Part #CR2032 available anywhere...including WallyWorld.

[gary727]

In all of the frustration of dealing with this computer, I inadvertently connected the wrong IDE cable to the CD RW drive.  I connected the primary IDE channel on the board, using the cable that had been connected to the old IDE hard drive into the CD RW.

I have since connected the CD RW cable to the CD RW drive on the secondary IDE channel on the board.

I am now able to boot from the CD RW and I am attempting to install windows on the once secondary, now primary hard drive (since I removed the IDE drive).

Silly mistake, I know.  A couple of  things I'm learning about hardware (since I'm more of a software guy, scripter, etc)....you need PATIENCE, and attention to DETAIL.

[patio]

Good job investigating...and yes...all you said is very true.....