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How to Build Your Own PC - Save A Buck And Learn A Lot  9  Chapter 9: Installing Windows XP

Chapter 9: Installing Windows XP 1 Booting the Windows XP CD – Initial Setup Screen

The Western Digital hard drive has not been partitioned or formatted and has no software on it.

When you start your system for the first time, you’ll probably receive a message that the computer couldn’t find a bootable disk or an operating system (unless you already put the Windows CD in the CD tray).

Your computer’s BIOS specifies the search order that your computer uses to find a bootable operating system (Figure 132). This system seeks an operating system first from the floppy drive, second from the hard drive, and third from a CD. You can enter BIOS to change it so that the CD drive is checked before the hard drive, if you find that desirable.

Because there wasn’t a floppy disk in the floppy drive, no operating system was found there. Then, the computer examined the hard drive, which is brand new, and it didn’t find an operating system. Then, the computer examined the CD drive and found no operating system, because there was no CD in the tray. The result is that no operating system can be found.

Chapter 9: Installing Windows XP 1 Booting the Windows XP CD – Initial Setup Screen