How do I fix this?

Hello Melinda,

See if the machine will boot from a NT boot floppy. If so, you can than
look at things such as active partition, boot code, boot files, etc.

119467 How to Create a Bootable Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=119467

Regards,
Bill Spears

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi, Melinda.

Install an operating system. Such as Windows 2000 (or Windows XP).

If you want a better answer, you'll have to ask a better question, Melinda.
What you posted gives us no way to figure out what's wrong. But it sounds
like your problem is in your hard drive configuration. Wherever the BIOS is
looking when you first boot up is NOT the boot device for ANY operating
system. Maybe it's looking first at the floppy drive?

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(E-Mail Removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP

"melinda" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:0bb601c3a22a$4ad8e380$(E-Mail Removed)...
> How do I fix this?

Hello Melinda,
This error can occur for several reasons.
One common reason is if you leave a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive.
I have done this myself many times.
Another reason is if there is something wrong with the boot.ini file and it
is pointing to the wrong drive or partition (arc path).
Still another reson is if the value for hidden sectors is incorrect in the
boot sector.
If the value for hidden sectors is incorrect or if there is something wrong
with the arc path in the boot.ini file, you can format a floppy with the
FAT file system on another machine running the same OS, then copy three
files to the floppy disk. ( ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini). You may
need to inspect the boot.ini file and make sure it is pointing to the
correct drive, partition, and folder.
such as:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
or
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect

If this isn't the issue, you may need to boot from the CD into recovery
console and run chkdsk /p on the drive to see if it is a file system
problem. Rarely do you see where the file is actually missing. However,
you cannot rule that out.

This error is experienced for various reasons and is sometime difficult to
correct. I have had this call from experienced IT personel. Thus, it is
not a simple question as one may suspect unless one has the opportunity to
experience the more difficult issues associated with this error.

Joe Griffin

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.