installing a new PATA harddrive on Acer Aspire 5633

It's trying to boot from the network.    You need to configure it to boot from the CD.

you can  go into bios by hit f2 when it turns on, then go to eSettings Management, click on Boot Options, and you will be shown Boot Sequence. To boot from a CD, move CD-Rom/DVD Drive to the top of the list.

the boot priority order is already like this:

1.  IDE 0: WD1600BEVE-00WZTO ---------- i assume thats the new hard drive
2.IDE 1.: HL-DT_ST DVDRAM GSA - T1ON
3.USB FDD
4. Network
5.USB HDD
6. USB KEY
7. USB CD ROM --------- is this the one I should choose?

No, choose #2 => that's your optical drive.

I just moved the cd rom to the top of the list - and I still get the same message
media test failure.....

oh sorry - my mistake

I just tried to start with  IDE 1: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA  as first choice
and the windows CD in

and still the same message is showing...

iwould try to boot from that CD to check if it is bootable, it can be bad
it can also be a bad CD drive, or controller.
you can test if it boots from another bootable cd, like BartPE  www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

first phrase should be read as "i would try to boot from that CD on another PC to check if it is bootable, it can be bad"

the windows CD may be bootable.
Normally it will boot, for 15 seconds it displays a message that reads
"Press any key to boot"

if a key is not pressed, your computer will try the HD.
if you press a key it will boot the CD into setup mode.

are you not even getting that message?

also it's best to check the Cd like nobus said.

I dont have the original XP installation cd.
The reason I'm doing all this - new hd - new operating system - is because my laptop would not boot up - I gave up and started from scratch.  I still have the old hd with the operating system on it. The laptop came with all that installed.  Maybe I should go back and just try to boot the old hd  with a CD from the website you suggested?  www.memtest.org
Would that work?

the d i linked to is a windows cd; you may be able to read the old disk with it.
And it is bootable.
i suppose, as said that maybe your cd drive is just bad - did you test the cd on another PC - if it's bootable there ?

hello!

I found an old original disc of windows 98, which should be bootable, and tried that.
I got the same message.
So does that mean that the cd drive does not work,
that would be strange since it has always worked.
Is it possible that the system just doesnt boot from it, its not designed to maybe - as the operating system was pre-installed on the laptop.

Actually when I try to start the old hd - windows does start to load, then I get an Acer screen where icons should be for user log -in. they do not appear. So that was the original problem. Maybe there is something I can do there instead?

Not all Windows 98 CDs were bootable, so I'd be skeptical of that.    Make a MemTest CD, as I suggested earlier, and see if that boots [You simply burn it from the ISO image -- do NOT just copy the ISO image to a CD ... look carefully at your burning software to be sure you're doing the right thing].

You do still have the boot order set to boot from CD first -- right?

Yes, as you said - I made that nr 2 choice first.
Ok - I will make a test later on today, thanks!

note that the live cd, enanbles you probably to access the disk data