OT: Major problem with a non-homebuilt PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Waker
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The Waker

I got out my old IBM Aptiva (400mhz K6-2, 8gig HD, 96mb ram) to give to my
father and I loaded the IBM restart disk to do a fresh re-install of Windows
98.

During the process, there was an error and it restarted.

When the PC rebooted, I got this message on the DOS screen:

"Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."

I tried re-entering the CD and it didn't work. I made a Win98 bootdisk and
tried loading that at startup and I got the same message.

I tried switching around the boot order from A,D,C to D,A,C to C,D,A, etc.
Same message.

Then, I unplugged the CD drive and floppy and just tried booting the C
drive. Same results.

Does anyone know what the problem is? Do I have to buy a new HD?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
I got out my old IBM Aptiva (400mhz K6-2, 8gig HD, 96mb ram) to give to my
father and I loaded the IBM restart disk to do a fresh re-install of Windows
98.

During the process, there was an error and it restarted.

When the PC rebooted, I got this message on the DOS screen:

"Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."

I tried re-entering the CD and it didn't work. I made a Win98 bootdisk and
tried loading that at startup and I got the same message.

I tried switching around the boot order from A,D,C to D,A,C to C,D,A, etc.
Same message.

Then, I unplugged the CD drive and floppy and just tried booting the C
drive. Same results.

Does anyone know what the problem is? Do I have to buy a new HD?
Click to expand...


Unplug hd and try booting off the floppy. If that works, the hd may
well be toast.
 
I got out my old IBM Aptiva (400mhz K6-2, 8gig HD, 96mb ram) to give to my
father and I loaded the IBM restart disk to do a fresh re-install of
Windows 98.

During the process, there was an error and it restarted.

When the PC rebooted, I got this message on the DOS screen:

"Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."

I tried re-entering the CD and it didn't work. I made a Win98 bootdisk
and tried loading that at startup and I got the same message.

I tried switching around the boot order from A,D,C to D,A,C to C,D,A, etc.
Same message.

Then, I unplugged the CD drive and floppy and just tried booting the C
drive. Same results.

Does anyone know what the problem is? Do I have to buy a new HD?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Click to expand...


Well the PC boots otherwise you wouldn't be able to get into the bios.
The quest is does the floppy boot or does the floppy point to the HD for
booting?

Normally I'd format the HD > format C:\ /s but I don't know the Aptiva
configuration, ie, 3rd party or IBM software.

"Invalid system disk":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q128730/

Aptiva help:
http://www.google.com/search?q=IBM+...ient=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

http://members.aol.com/don5408/aptiva.html
 
The Waker said:
I got out my old IBM Aptiva (400mhz K6-2, 8gig HD, 96mb ram) to give to my
father and I loaded the IBM restart disk to do a fresh re-install of
Windows
98.

During the process, there was an error and it restarted.

When the PC rebooted, I got this message on the DOS screen:

"Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."

I tried re-entering the CD and it didn't work. I made a Win98 bootdisk
and
tried loading that at startup and I got the same message.

I tried switching around the boot order from A,D,C to D,A,C to C,D,A, etc.
Same message.

Then, I unplugged the CD drive and floppy and just tried booting the C
drive. Same results.

Does anyone know what the problem is? Do I have to buy a new HD?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I've run into similar problems and the easiest to fix were having to clean a
dirty CD.

Other things can be conflicting parameters on accessory boards, like sound
or other cards. Remove all cards except what you need to get your video and
drives. Then try the install, if that works you can then power down and
plug in ONE of the accessory cards and power the unit up and see if the OS
recognises it and sets things approprately. Repeat the steps with any other
cards you might have had in the case.

Many of the older machines had CD drives that the motherboard bios could not
read directly until CD drivers were loaded from a boot floppy disk. Then
I could install from the CD. You might try a set of W98 floppy install
disks if you can get ahold of them.

I have also had luck using Darik's Boot and Nuke program (DBAN) to totally
erase the drive and then do the install.
You can download the DBAN program at http://dban.sourceforge.net. At the
site you can find instructions on how to make either a CD or Floppy version
of the program. There are similar programs but if you have something like
an NT style partition or virus that w98 or others can't seem to erase or
remove this program will do it for you. Another reason I like it is because
to Windows, the hard drive looks factory fresh during the subsequent
install.

It does run from a menu that comes up as you boot it but keep in mind that
the program is designed to erase EVERY drive it finds once you pick an
erasure method. If you have a drive in the box you want to keep the data on
you need to unplug the cables to that drive (with the power off) before
using the program.
 
The Waker said:
I got out my old IBM Aptiva (400mhz K6-2, 8gig HD, 96mb ram) to give to my
father and I loaded the IBM restart disk to do a fresh re-install of Windows
98.

During the process, there was an error and it restarted.

When the PC rebooted, I got this message on the DOS screen:

"Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."

I tried re-entering the CD and it didn't work. I made a Win98 bootdisk and
tried loading that at startup and I got the same message.

I tried switching around the boot order from A,D,C to D,A,C to C,D,A, etc.
Same message.

Then, I unplugged the CD drive and floppy and just tried booting the C
drive. Same results.

Does anyone know what the problem is? Do I have to buy a new HD?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
reset the cmos first
 
JAD said:
reset the cmos first
Click to expand...
Good suggestion Jad.
Depending on when the motherboard battery was last replaced it might have
reached it's 3 to 5 year life expectancy resulting in trashed cmos settings.
 
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