windows booting problem

[creativehacker]

I am using windows XP SP2.
The problem is my windows OS is only able to boot when there is a bootable win XP disc in the drive.
When the bootable is in the disc it will ask
Press any key to load win XP.....
when I dont press any key then my OS is able to boot when I remove the disc it is not booting it is just displaying
Boot from CD:
and stopping..

How to solve this problem..

[Salem]

What boot devices (and what order) have you set in the BIOS?
It seems like you've got "CD-Only" or something like that.

[creativehacker]

first boot :cd
second boot :harddisk
If I put first boot as harddisk it is not booting it is stopping...as I said in earlier post

[Salem]

So do you get any kind of message when you just have the hard disk as the boot device?

[creativehacker]

there is no message the systems stops showing
Boot from CD:

[gerbil]

Check in Disk Mgmnt that your system drive is marked Active.

[creativehacker]

How to check whether the system drive is active. what is the meaning if it is active

[Bob_180_Bob]

To open Disk Management
Open Computer Management (Local).
In the console tree, click Disk Management.
Notes

To open Computer Management, click Start, and then click Control Panel. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
For information about using Disk Management, in Computer Management, click Help on the Action menu.
For more information, click Related Topics.

[gerbil]

A partition that is marked Active has a bit set in the MBR of that partition - BIOS checks on the hdd for such an MBR; this tells it that this is the system partition which contains the boot files for the OS.
Do as Bob said to enter Disk Mgmnt, then rclick your System partition [most likely C:], and mark it Active. Restart without the cd.
You might also consider putting the hdd at the top of the boot order, since it is from there that you would generally be booting. Change it back to CD first, or use the one-time boot order methiod for the odd time you wish to actually boot from a cd.