Boot isnt working...

Hi guys... this is my first post but i relly need some help, ive just fineshed putting a new HD in my pc but all of a sudden when i boot it it gets to the packard bell screen (its really old) then just says "Wait..." for about a minute then says A: drive error" then just looks for boot places, if it helps ive already put a linux boot disk in to try that but its not detecting it (Damn Small Linux) and just wont boot! ive already also unplugged all other HDD's and floppy drives at motherboard IDE HDD Ide and power (except for the one i KNOW isnt corrupt due to using as external HDD) I also wish to put linux on afterwards... Any help? SPECS-----> 1x 20GB Maxtor HDD ,1x Seagate 6gb HDD , 1x 10gb seagate HDD, 256mb DDR RAM , D-LINK LAN Network card, 1x Generic DVD RAM Optical Drive,1x Generic 5.25 (Ish) Floppy Drive and Intel Katmai Processor.