Can not boot

This could me several issues -- here are some thoughts:

1. The speed at which your boot CD (or DVD) was burnt DOES MATTER. Older drives may not be able to read media burnt at high speed or newer media formulations.

2. Fried or confused IDE/SATA/RAID controller.

3. Flaky BIOS.

4. Internal semiconductor damage in computer power supply, causing just enough under-powered (usually shows up in a "small" voltage drop, and may not show up until PS is under load)condition such that motherboard or peripherals not operating nominally.


I'm betting on number 2 or 3. Please post make and model of machine, etc. for further assistance.

Tx,
ButtFuzz

Check the CD for damage and clean the cd drive with a lens cleaner. This sounds like a software or cd drive issue not a hard drive issue. It could also be raid drivers that need to be reinstalled. But this is less likely.