I just bought a brand new hard drive but it still giving me the same insert boot drive

There should be no need to play around with your bios settings. Linux will install on a brand new hard drive as the sole operating system, or on an existing hard drive alongside Windows without any problem.

If you haven't already got a Linux distro, have a look at
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Download whichever version of Ubuntu you prefer (LTS- the long term support version is recommended).

When the .iso file containing the operating system had downloaded, burn it onto a dvd, or install it on a usb drive.

Insert the dvd into the drive and restart or switch off/switch on the computer. The dvd will then kick in and offer you the choice of trying Ubuntu without installing, or a full install.

If you're using a new, empty hard drive just follow the on screen instructions and Ubuntu will install as the sole operating system.

If you already have Windows on your hard drive Ubuntu will give you the choice of either erasing Windows or installing Ubuntu alongside Windows. It's your choice.

Installing Ubuntu alongside Windows creates a dual boot hard drive. At start up you just choose which OS to use - Windows or Ubuntu. If creating this dual-boot system Ubuntu puts a (Linux) boot loader into the Windows OS so that Linux is recognised.

If you save the Ubuntu file to a usb drive you then have to change the bios settings so that your computer uses USB as the first boot device. Then restart your computer so that it boots in from your usb .. and Ubuntu will begin installing.

Whichever you use - dvd or usb - during the installation process Ubuntu will ask you how many GB of hard drive space it should use? You do not need to physically partition the hard drive. Linux will do it for you.

If it's a desktop PC you are using with Windows on the first hard drive and are fitting a second hard drive to install Linux on, or have installed Linux on the second hard drive .. and find that Linux doesn't appear at start up, it's because there's no Linux boot loader in Windows.

I quit using Windows many years ago.

either there is no operating system installed or the hard drive failed
you can check to see if your hard drive is visible in the bios you can usually get into your bios by pressing delete, F2 or F10 on start up under drive options or boot options you should see the hard drive
either way i would send it back as defective

NO BOOTABLE DEVICE When the PC cannot see a boot file/disk on either the hard disk or floppy drive it gives an error message "No bootable device. Insert boot disk and press any key" First thing, check to see if the is a floppy disk in the floppy drive, if so removes this disk. If there was no disk in the floppy drive then it may be a hard disk problem.
Check the BIOS to see if the hard disk is detected, if not open the case and re-seat the data cable on the hard drive and also where it connects to the motherboard disk controller.
If it still gives this error message and the BIOS does not detect this hard drive, then the hard drive is probably faulty.
A further check on the hard drive, remove the hard drive and connect it to an USB hard drive adapter and connect it to a working computer's USB port, if this computer does not detect it as an external storage device then the hard drive is faulty.
To get the computer operating again, install a new hard drive in your computer and then install Windows on this hard drive plus the computer's device drivers and your programs.

its basically telling you that your master hard drive with O/S installation cannot be found in the booting system...Check if your master HD is not corrupted and see if your O/S still exist or maybe wiped out..

Brand new today? Stop fooling with it now! Take it back and make them give you a machine that works. If you fool with it any more, your warranty will be of no value.

Thanks for your interest in FixYa.com

With a new hard drive you have to first format and install an operating system before it will work. Insert the hard Drive and connect up the DVD, set system BIOS to Boot from removable media IE: The DVD, and insert a Windows setup CD/DVD in the DVD drive, boot of that DVD, and proceed with the install following the instructions. That will install a Windows operating system.

if the hard drive is new and not formatted , there will be no operating system for the computer to go past the bios start up
what you will have to do is to get into the bios , select boot preference and select cd as first preference
load an operating system( example win 8) and let the unit boot from the disc
after that has properly installed ,shut down the unit , restart and get the bios back up and change boot preference to hard drive
from then on it should start and boot from the program on the hard drive

Hi, By brand new harddrive, I assume that its fresh and empty.
You need to install the Operating System (OS) in that harddrive.
You can do that my inserting the OS installation CD/ DVD into the drive before you bootup.
If you still get the error, get into the setup mode and change the boot sequence to boot from CD-ROM first.
Hope it helps :)

Have you done any setup to the new hard drive? Any new hard drive will come with no data on it. This means you will have to reinstall windows onto the new hard drive, or copy windows from your old hard drive(if it still boots up) using the CD that came with the hard drive. If your hard drive didn't come with the software, post which hard drive you have, and I can give you the link to download it.
Try and find the Windows CD's that came with your computer, and use them to reinstall it. If this was a name brand computer (like dell, or HP), then it will have come with some CD's (usually). Sometimes the restore is built into the old hard drive :-)
If this was a clone computer, you should have a legal copy of windows that was given to you. 

press any key to boot...

usually that comes up when a cd is inserted and its waiting for you to press a key so that it boots the cd

Formatting shouldn't be necessary if its a new pc unless your trying to get rid of the operating system.

Are you trying to install windows xp / vista ?