right flatmates neice has got a 'new' pc.
celeron 3ghz packard bell with a 80gb HD.
added the HD from her old dead PC to get data off it.
tried cable select but hung on boot so set the old PC HD to slave and booted.
once booted it installed the HD and i can access it as normal.

however on boot i get an error from the realtek ethernet controller client mac address..................DCHP (loads of numbers n stuff)
it tries for a period then shows PCX-MOF:exiting PCX ROM


after that it goes onto boot windows(home)
i didnt really do anything but had to remove the power and ribbon cables for the HD's and dvd/cd drives to install the 2nd hard drive.
then refitted them

pc works fine with no errors.
hd's are accesible and internet works fine.
device manager shows the ethernet controller as functioning correctly

PC guys know this one?

oh the old HD was running xp pro AFAIK and all the data is still on there

It's attempting to boot from the network

PXE - Preboot Execution Environment

Check in the Bios for boot order, or a separate entry for boot from lan. disable it.

:woot:
tis weird,i never entered the bios so dont know how that happened

Sounds like something on the mobo has went funny but Rob is right.

Liam

agree with hellcat, just go into the bios and set it to book off the hdd with the os on, stops it getting confused, and while your there disable any boot from cd/floppy etc, completely pointless unless you are doing a new build (so remember to turn it back on if you do!)

tbh i think you can just take the jumper off the hdd, if i remember rightly that should set it as a slave.

Even though you got the correct answer and sorted it out 5 hours ago.. I'll add my input.

Yes go in the Bios, the boot order is set to Network Boot first. Disable Network Boot and the computer will start faster.