Flashing cursor but boots when XP disc in CD drive

[Bugarit]

I am having issues with an old Compaq machine that refuses to boot correctly. The flashing cursor shows if I try to boot straight into XP but if the XP disc is in the cd drive it boots fine. Even though I do not press a key to boot from disc. I have done severla CHKDSK /r as well as fixboot and fixmbr. I pressume there is a boot sequence issue or POST test issue but any ideas on how to fix or investigate further would be great.

Thanks in anticipation
Bugarit :grinthumb

 

[scuzzo]

Have you gone into the BIOS and checked the boot sequence? How about if a non system disk is in the drive?

 

[Bugarit]

Thanks Suzzo, I tried disabling the cd drive in the BIOS so that I was only booting from the HDD.
Anyway, sussed it! I disconnected the CD drive from the IDE cable and power and the PC booted fine. Consequently I have reconnected the cd drive and the machine boots fine now as well.
So in brief disconnect the cd drive and the issue is resolved.then replce the drive