Cannot Boot to Windows Boot Floppy/CD Anymore

[monkeyhouse]

hi

my machine with 8.04 on it will no longer boot to a Windows boot CD or Floppy. it doesn't seem to make much sense to me but this is the only explanation that fits what is going on.

i have tested the CDs and Floppies in other (XP and 2000) machines and they work fine.

i can boot to the Live CD OK so i can boot to the CD drive ok.

i have checked the bios boot order and even explicity forced the boot to Floppy or CD - the lights come on so i know it is accessing the drive but it does not boot.

the machine ONLY has 8.04 installed - it is not dual boot.

i need to restore it to a Windows machine as it i am getting a new PC and this is being passed onto a young relative. So i need to boot to the windows installation CD/Floppy.
(Please no posts about how I should leave it as a Linux box - he needs Windows for school).

thanks for any pointers

[monkeyhouse]

UPDATED:

I found that if i remove my hard drive from the boot sequence
OR
remove the hard drives from the bios (set to off/none)

i can boot to the CD or floppy.

this works for me but is very weird. not sure if it will work for others.

so simply forcing CD or Floppy was not enough, i had to remove the hard drive from the boot altogether. any one have any idea what is going on to cause that?