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General discussion

computor wont boot

Nov 19, 2003 11:36AM PST

on power up my computor only states "Invalid System Disk Remove disk and hit any key. there are on disk in any dive

Discussion is locked

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The hard disk contents could be scrambled. TEST it...
Nov 19, 2003 12:00PM PST

Boot your emergency boot diskette or CD and do a DIR C: to survey what may be left.

The next step varies with the damage found.

Worst case? You need a new hard disk and restore from your last backup.

Best case? The IDE cable or power fell off. Reseat connections and try again.

There are many inbetween issues, but the test will give direction.

Bob

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Re:The hard disk contents could be scrambled. TEST it...
Nov 19, 2003 12:40PM PST

i tried the emergency cd and the restore CD and nothing will boot, how do i get to the bios or anything

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Go to te BIOS
Nov 19, 2003 3:57PM PST

First thing to find out how to get into the BIOS. That varies between motherboard, alas. You should be able to find it in the documentation that came with the motherboard or the computer.
Most BIOS-ses display it on the bottom line of the screen, however, but not all do. It's a line like "Press del to enter setup." It could also be f1, f10 or escape, or another key. You press that key very early in the boot process.

In the BIOS you look for the boot sequence (exact location depends on the maker and maybe version; it should be in the documentation). Change it to boot first from a:, and exit the BIOS while saving changes.
Then put in the boot diskette, boot and run every DOS-diagnostic for the hard disk (cHappy that you can: fdisk /stat, chkdsk c:, scandisk c: and dir c:.

If basic hardware is OK and functioning, but things on the harddisk are beyond repair, you can set the BIOS to boot from cd first, and boot from the recovery CD.

Tell us your experiences if necessary.


Kees