I've seen this problem has been encountered by quite a few people, but I've yet to find a solution that applies to me. Why? Because all the fixes seem to require the OS already installed. It's a fresh install of Windows on a new build. The first time I booted up the CD, it worked and got to the install stage, but then my CPU overheated and everything cut out. Reseated the heatsink, checked the temps, and everything seemed good to go. And that's when I got this error. I've since pretty much been able to try very little to fix it. I've checked the SATA cables, turned my PSU on and off, and cleared the CMOS, in the hopes it might do the trick. It didn't. I haven't switched the SATA ports, as the CPC review of the motherboard I have, a Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, says the install doesn't work unless the drives are connected to the ports to the Gigabyte controller. Hardware: Gigabyte X58A-UD3R i7 920 Antec Truepower 650W Samsung F3 1TB Generic Optical drive The hardware shouldn't be a problem, considering it worked before, but it could be the board? Long story short: Helps me please!
You can copy the bootmgr from the installation dvd to the drive. At work now, so try searching for info on how to do that. you may also need to try some of the commands here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392
are you saying the installation stage didnt finish before your cpu overheated? or it installed then overheated?
The CPU overheated during installation, so it didn't finish. Also, the other computers I have are running XP and Vista. Will this change anything in terms of what I can do to fix the CD?
well wont that error message come up because its tryin to load up an operating system that isnt technicaly installed? have you tried booting from the dvd again now your heatsink is sitted correctly and try and install windows again? format the harddrive first then install it.
The install didn't finish in the first place. There is no OS on the computer. I've been trying repeatedly to try and get it to install again.
Double check your boot priorities. make sure optical drive is before hard drives. If you get that message when booting from the DVD, either the disc or the drive has gone funny.
After what capnPedro said, you could try a linux varient? Just run it from the CD, format the HDD and start again?
Fixed it. Turns out that when the message came up with "press any to continue", it didn't like my USB keyboard. Figured it out by trying it out on a laptop, which did work.
