Missing bios, and power supply/switch problem

Hi Jim!
First of all I'm from Sweden and I'm writing this 3 o'clock in the morning so there might be some spelling errors ;)

Yes, the powerswitch can be a real pain. since you need the schematics of your specific motherboard... to get this you need to know what model your board are. typically its written somewhere on the board with slightly larger letters/numbers than the rest, OR, if it's a typically brand computer (HP, COMPAQ, DELL, IBM etc.) with its original board you should be able to get the model number by just looking at some number on the computer case. example: DELL OPTIPLEX GX270 and seaching for that computer model on ther website. can't promise that they will give out any schematics though...but its worth a shot ;) If you cant find any schematics for your motherboard just post the model of your motherboard here and ill see if i can provide some feedback about it...

About the CD/DVD, try to boot with just 1 device powered up at a time, since basically CD's and DVD's are the same when it comes to interfaces like IDE. so either go with the DVD player OR the CD-ROM player to make it easier to find out whats wrong. After you have installed XP successfully you can try to connect/add the other device and boot up the computer again -XP should install it automatically.
Furthermore with the DVD or CD (whichever you want to try installing XP with). the cable connecting it to the motherboard and the DVD/CD should be in the SECONDARY IDE port on the motherboard (PRIMARY IDE port is for the HDD -Hard Disk Drive) and the jumper or "plug" on the dvd should be set as MASTER (should be a sign like "MA" or something, usually theres just those two pins that needs to be connected) there should also be others like SL for SLAVE and CS for CABLE SELECT but you wont need to bother about them. Master means the primary drive (the one that boots first on that channel, when installing win xp for example, this drive is the one that should contain the CD or DVD) Slave means a secondary drive - works as normal once in windows but is not preferred to install the base OS from. Cable is meant for the motherboard to decide wheter the device should be master or slave depending on which port on the cable it is connected to. also with the IDE cables; the port that are farthest away from the motherboard connector is the MASTER port. a rule which is not so clearly described.

You might need to enter the BIOS too to select the DVD drive as the default booting device in the boot order... usually its ranked from the top where the device on the top of the list is the one booting first.

Regarding the "NTLDR missing" (NT Loader) problem its just a file in the windows structure that is not recognized since you installed the OS (Operating System) in another computer.
Installing Win XP to a harddrive in anoher computer will most likely not solve your problem, as Win XP is based on the NT (New Technology) it isn't as flexible as older systems eg. Win 98. Your only real shot of succeeding in this matter is to simply install on the very computer that should hade this drive by default. (read: the computer your having trouble with)

Hope this helps out somehow, it would be nice to hear how this project ends up.

PS. For the record, my haircolor is blonde ;)
Hope this doesnt discourage you too much after reading this confession.

Best regards
Dan