[agbe981]

there is this pentium 4 pc that i am working on. it is able to detect the hard drive but it tells me"DISK BOOT ERROR, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER". does it mean the hard drive is bad? how do i solve this problem

[pip22]

Either the hard drive has failed, there is no OS on it, or the boot code is missing/corrupt.
You can test the drive with Seagate SeaTools for DOS, which runs from a CD in DOS. Download it by clicking "Downloads" on this page: http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

Now download and install IMGBurn from here: http://filehippo.com/download_imgburn/
Use IMGBurn to create a CD from the SeaTools ISO file, then boot the faulty PC from that CD.
SeaTools will eventually open. Select the hard drive to be tested and run the short test on it.
If it says "Failed", you need a new hard drive.

If it does not say "Failed", this time run the long test on it just to be sure it's okay.

If the drive passes the long test okay, you just need to install a (legal) copy of Windows on it.