Intermittent failure PC will not boot.

[jdbne]

I am getting an intermittent failure where the PC will not boot. The
error message is that the system is missing. Press R for recovery
console. I got the recovery console going and it asks for the
administrator password. I was not provided with that so I can't
continue. with recovery

I exited and the laptop starts normally. It has happened 5-6 times over
the last month.

Any suggestions. I use a firewall, webroot spyware and have a virus
program. They are not detecting anything. It might need a clean
install/reformat?

 

[Guest]

This tends to indicate one of three possible problems:
1. The hard disk drive is faulty
2. There is a worm or virus affecting the boot sector
3. An intermittent electrical fault on the computer

For the answers:
1. Unlikely as you do not mention any disk error messages, however you can
run CHKDSK.EXE to be confident that the disk drive is not about to die.
2. Run a good anti virus and then spyware application to ensure that you are
'clean'.
3. There could be a faulty connection on the IDE interface which is
effectively causing the hard drive to disappear.