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"Boot disk failure, insert system disk and hit enter"??????

4K views 75 replies 5 participants last post by  troublesome5 
#1 ·
My dad sent my daughter a "E Machine" with XP Home. Before he sent it, he transferred all of his personal files. When I hooked it up, the screen said "Boot disk failure. Insert system disk and hit enter". The company sent us a new set of bootable CDs as we thought the problem might be in the CD. Same message. HELP!!!
 
#4 ·
Enter BIOS setup and see if it even sees the hard disk as being there.

Are you trying to boot from the CDs? If so, make sure that booting from CDs is enabled in the BIOS.

To enter BIOS setup, look at the screen during POST (very first thing) It will tell you the keys to enter the BIOS. Usually something like Del or F2.
 
#5 ·
Ok I will have to look at that again when I get home....I didn't see any options like that, but I wasn't really looking for them either. Can you tell me what all I need to do because I won't be able to look at this until I get the computer up...and cannot get the computer up with out this. Love those Catch-22s.
 
#6 ·
Get into the bios setup and it should list your hard drive(s). If it shows it then the hardware sees it!

Each bios setup is a bit different but there should be a screen showing the boot sequence. There you can change the sequence and the devices that the machine will look to for booting. Typically, a machine will be set to first look for a floppy disk, followed by the CD, then the HD. If the CD drive is not listed in the boot device sequence, try to select it. Then you should be able to boot from the CD.

If you can boot from the CDs and the BIOS sees the HD, then as a last resort you could always apply a fresh install of XP from the CDs.
 
#7 ·
Ok, that makes sense...I had to do all that to do a clean install of XP on one of my computers. My only concern is getting to the bios place to begin with - I don't remember seeing anything on the screen that it showed, but I will look again. I hope like hell it works because my daughter is driving me nuts. :)
 
#9 ·
Well, I'm a mom, but I know the feeling well, lol. Thanks for your help and hey, while we are on the subject somewhat, I have a computer, one of the kind that is "built"...I did a clean install of XP Home and it works wonderfully except that it does not find my network card or whatever it is I need to get on the internet. I have no idea what kind of card it is. How difficult is it to figure that out? I am not at all mechanically inclined so I'm kind of scared to tried to open it up and look. I am using a 6 year old computer in the meantime and whew - it sucks.
 
#10 ·
Are you sure that XP does not see it? Open up the Device Manager ( Go Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager). There it will show all the installed hardware. If it sees it but there is a little yellow triangle showing then it needs drivers. If it doesn't see it then there are 2 things you can do:

1). Ground yourself by touching the metal on the back of the power supply while it is plugged in but not on. Then unplug the power supply, open the case up and ensure that the network card is properly seated. Run the Add Hardware wizard from the Control Panel.

2). Purchase a USB network interface. These can be had brand new for about 20 bucks.
 
#12 ·
I'm not at an XP machine right now but I think if you right click on the entry and select properties there will be a place to update drivers. It should also tell you what network card it is. You should be able to search for drivers on the net.

You could also select "uninstall" for the device then afterwards click on the little computer icon and do a search for new hardware. It will pick up the card again and then you can tell it to search for drivers.
 
#14 ·
*Sigh* I didn't get around to trying the thing on MY computer yet, but I got to the BIOS and it was already set up for CDROM first. Still the same message. :( ANy ideas? There has to be a solution...it's a good computer but something must have happened when my dad transferred his files. He said it worked fine then. I wrote down everything it says on the screen that comes up....would it help if I put that in here for you to look at?
 
#15 ·
Go ahead, it couldn't hurt. But, a failure of the machine to boot from a cd has nothing to do with whatever is on, or not on the hard drive. So, your father could not have messed up anything simply by removing his files. If boot from cd is set as the first option then the machine will not have even looked at the hard drive before trying to boot from the cd. Have you tried these bootable cds on any other machine? Just see if it boots, you don't have to actually install anything.

Now that you know how to get into the bios, look to see if the BIOS recognizes the CD drive and the hard drive. Possibly, the IDE cable that connects the drives to the motherboard may have come loose. This is sounding like more of a hardware problem than a software one.
 
#16 ·
well they are specifically for emachine, which i dont have. They say right on the disc that they wont work on any other machine. I have two copies of the "Bootable restore CDs" , one set of which is brand new and has only been used by me trying to get it to work. Give me a couple of minutes and i will put here everything it says on the screen I get. It was hard as hell to get to the BIOS thing because it blinks for the tiniest second then goes to this other screen...i had to keep restarting and hitting delete to get to the bios screen. Gimme a sec.
 
#17 ·
Go back and look at my previous post as I edited it and added a second paragraph as you were adding your post.

Even if the cds are only for an emachine, they still should boot on any machine. They simply will not install an activated XP on any other machine as the activation is probably tied to the BIOS. Again, all you are looking to see is if it boots on another machine, not that it will install.
 
#18 ·
How can I tell if it recognizes the CDROM? It gave me the option of what to boot from, but it was already set to that.

Here is exactly what it shows on the screen I get after trying to boot: (although there is something, like two lines on the top that disappear before I can see what they say, the screen scrolls up to give me that "disk boot failure" message.)

Pri. disk slave: none Parallel ports: 378 (or 318 - sloppy writing)
Sec. Master disk: DVD, ATA33 DDR
Sec. slave disk: none
____________________________________________________________________
Pri. Master disk HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability....Disabled


PCI Device Listing (I didn't write down all that cuz there was a bunch of stuff)


(at the bottom of the screen it said this)
Verifying DMI Pool Data....
Boot from CD:
Disk boot failure, insert system disk and hit enter.
 
#20 ·
From what you wrote it appears that it is not seeing the Primary Master which would be your hard drive. Maybe you didn't copy all the messages. But, there should be another line at the top showing a Primary Disk Master just above the line showing Primary Disk Slave.

Go back to one of my earlier posts about how to ground yourself and open the case. There will be a flat ribbon cable that connects the hard drive to the motherboard. Actually, from what you wrote, there will be two ribbon cables, the other connecting your DVD to the motherboard. On each of these ribbon cables there is a middle connector that might be connected to other drives. Make sure that the cable is seated properly to the back of the hard drive as well as to the motherboard. Pull them straight out and push them straight in, being careful not to bend any pins. There is a notch on them preventing you from putting them in backwards.
 
#21 ·
Well, I think on that top line that scrolls up before I get it, that is what it is talking about the Primary Master....in fact, I think I remember seeing that and wondering if it were important, so let's work under the assumption that is what it said. If that IS what it says, none, do I then follow the directions you gave me above?
 
#22 ·
troublesome5 said:
If that IS what it says, none, do I then follow the directions you gave me above?
I'm not really sure what you are saying. Are you saying that Primary Master is listed as "None"? If so, that is your problem and yes, you would need to check those connections. If it is disappearing from the screen too fast for you, you can also check for the drive in the BIOS. You already said you know how to enter the BIOS setup. In the BIOS setup, it will show you the drives that it sees on the first page. Look to ensure that it is seeing your hard drive. If not, check those connections.
 
#23 ·
troublesome5 said:
How can I tell if it recognizes the CDROM? It gave me the option of what to boot from, but it was already set to that.

Here is exactly what it shows on the screen I get after trying to boot: (although there is something, like two lines on the top that disappear before I can see what they say, the screen scrolls up to give me that "disk boot failure" message.)

Pri. disk slave: none Parallel ports: 378 (or 318 - sloppy writing)
Sec. Master disk: DVD, ATA33 DDR
Sec. slave disk: none
____________________________________________________________________
Pri. Master disk HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability....Disabled

PCI Device Listing (I didn't write down all that cuz there was a bunch of stuff)

(at the bottom of the screen it said this)
Verifying DMI Pool Data....
Boot from CD:
Disk boot failure, insert system disk and hit enter.
Get back into the BIOS troublesome and enable the S.M.A.R.T save and exit.
Immediately go back into the BIOS and look under Auto Detect Drives.
I reckon this hard drive is dead but we shall see.
Come back with what you see.
 
#24 ·
What do you mean by "dead"? It doesn't even sound good. According to my dad, all he did was transfer his files and it was shipped across the country. I am going to print all this and see what happens.

I will also try what Ed said earlier about my own computer....about trying to right click on the yellow triangle for my network card and see if it gives me the options to get drivers. I know how my luck goes, it can't possibly be that simple. :(
 
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