Boot Issue

[Guest]

I am using Windows XP Home Edition.

I am getting a message which says, Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and
press enter.

The system was working fine before this.

What can I do to alleviate this so that I can boot into the system.

 

[Malke]

I am using Windows XP Home Edition.

I am getting a message which says, Disk Boot Failure, Insert System
Disk and press enter.

The system was working fine before this.

What can I do to alleviate this so that I can boot into the system.

Do you have a floppy in the drive? If you do, remove it and reboot. That
should fix the problem. Otherwise, your hard drive may have died. Here
are some troubleshooting steps. Do one thing at a time, testing after
each change.

1. Go into the BIOS to check if the hard drive is seen.

Accessing the BIOS:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

If the hard drive is not seen, shut down the computer and unplug it.
Open the case and reseat the cable going from the motherboard to the
hard drive and also reseat the power supply connector. Now restart the
machine.

2. If the hard drive is still not seen, swap out the cable for a
known-working one.

3. If the hard drive is still not seen, put the drive in another
computer. If it isn't seen in the other computer, the drive is dead. If
it *is* seen in the other computer, try a different drive in your
original machine. If that drive isn't seen, you know the connector on
your motherboard is dead.

4. If the hard drive *is* seen in the BIOS, test it with a diagnostic
utility from the mftr. Download the file and make a bootable floppy or
cd with it. Boot with the media and do a thorough test. If the drive
has physical errors, replace it.

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Malke

 

[Juan]

Do what the command says and continue as follows:

 

[Juan]

Start the computer with the WXP CD in the CD-ROM drive and, press any key,
when the installation process makes a pause press "R" and select OS with 1
and enter, type the administrator password, and once in C:\WNDOWS\ type
FIXBOOT and restart the computer. If that does not solve it, repeat the
Recovery Console and copy the boot sector files from the XP CD as follows:



To copy and renew the boot sector files from the Windows XP CD

After the admin password type COPY D:\ [In which D:\represents the letter
that corresponds to the CD-ROM) So copy the three next files to renew the
boot sector. So begin with: copy D:\ i386\NTLDR C:\ Then copy
D:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\ and copy D:\i386\Boot.ini C:\

 

[Stan Brown]

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 16:09:32 -0800 from Malke

Do you have a floppy in the drive? If you do, remove it and reboot.

Right, and ditto for a CD-ROM. (I don't know whether the OP's
system's set to boot from CD-ROM, but whether it is or not, it's easy
to remove any CD and try booting again.)

 

[Guest]

Alanh:

I know this was over a year ago, but I am having the exact same problem. My
system is working fine, then freezes for no reason and when I try to reboot,
get the same error message; disk boot failure .... If I let it sit for about
10 minutes it will eventually reboot correctly and all is fine until the next
time it freezes. Did you ever get any kind of resolution to this problem?
Please let me know.

Thanks,

pb

 

[Malke]

Alanh:

I know this was over a year ago, but I am having the exact same problem. My
system is working fine, then freezes for no reason and when I try to reboot,
get the same error message; disk boot failure .... If I let it sit for about
10 minutes it will eventually reboot correctly and all is fine until the next
time it freezes. Did you ever get any kind of resolution to this problem?
Please let me know.

If you are replying to a post that is over a year old, the chances of
getting a response from the original poster are slim-to-none.

From your description of the symptoms, you are having hardware failures
(although there is no way to be 100% sure without seeing the machine).

Do the general hardware troubleshooting steps:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

Standard caveat: Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out
suspected parts with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing
yourself and/or are uncomfortable opening your computer, take the
machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your local
equivalent of BigStoreUSA). Have all your data backed up before you take
the machine into a shop.


Malke

 

[Guest]

Thank You!

If you are replying to a post that is over a year old, the chances of
getting a response from the original poster are slim-to-none.

From your description of the symptoms, you are having hardware failures
(although there is no way to be 100% sure without seeing the machine).

Do the general hardware troubleshooting steps:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

Standard caveat: Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out
suspected parts with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing
yourself and/or are uncomfortable opening your computer, take the
machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your local
equivalent of BigStoreUSA). Have all your data backed up before you take
the machine into a shop.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

 

[JudyW]

I just started using Windows Xp Home edition in August. I was able to reboot
or restart my computer and now when I do I keep getting a black screen
stating "invalid system disk" Insert CD and press any key.. I did delete MS
Money and Quicken on the add/remove programs, does this have to do with
anything or why I have to insert my system disk to reboot? I would
appreciate any help or advise someone can offer me. Thanks

 

[Malke]

I just started using Windows Xp Home edition in August. I was able to
reboot or restart my computer and now when I do I keep getting a black
screen
stating "invalid system disk" Insert CD and press any key.. I did delete
MS Money and Quicken on the add/remove programs, does this have to do with
anything or why I have to insert my system disk to reboot? I would
appreciate any help or advise someone can offer me. Thanks

No, uninstalling programs has nothing to do with the error. The error means
that your computer is looking for the operating system boot files (the
files that will start Windows) and not finding them where it has been told
to look.

Check in the BIOS and see if your hard drive is visible. If not, it has
probably died although you can try reseating the connections. Also check in
the BIOS to make sure your boot order is correct. In this case, I'd put the
hard drive first. If the hard drive already is first, it may have failed or
the boot files may be damaged/missing (although usually you would get a
different error for this). You can test the hard drive with a diagnostic
utility downloaded from the drive mftr.'s website.

If none of the above made any sense to you, take the machine to a
professional computer repair shop. I don't recommend using a
BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place.

Malke

 

[Ray Parrish]

First, open your CD drives and make sure there aren't any non-bootable
discs in them at boot up. Then do the same for the floppy drive if you
have one.

If the above doesn't work, then a problem has developed with your hard
drive. It could be that the MBR has become corrupted.

Google on FIXMBR and you should find a link which will tell you how to
fix that.

Later, Ray Parrish

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I just started using Windows Xp Home edition in August. I was able to reboot
or restart my computer and now when I do I keep getting a black screen
stating "invalid system disk" Insert CD and press any key.. I did delete MS
Money and Quicken on the add/remove programs, does this have to do with
anything or why I have to insert my system disk to reboot? I would
appreciate any help or advise someone can offer me. Thanks

Your problem has nothing to with deleting Money and quicken and is
one of two things:

1. Either there's a physical problem with your hard drive or

2. The boot order is set to try the CD or floppy drive first and you
accidentally left an unbootable disk in one of those drives.

If your problem is number 2, it's easy to fix simply by removing the
disk from the drive. If it's number 1, you probably need to replace
the hard drive.