"Disk Boot Failure"... Need help

[Sasquatch]

I'm running XP-SP1 on a Maxtor HD about 1 1/2 yrs. old. I used to have a backup HD but recently my PC wouldn't read it. I've got a new HD but haven't installed it yet.

The problem is that this morning the PC wouldn't "wake up" so I did a reset. When booting up it's real slow, shows that it recognizes the Primary Master HD, does not recognize the Primary Slave, it does recognize the Secondary Master and Slave CD drives.

On the next page of bootup it says "BIOS Disabled"... and then shows "Disk Boot Failure - Insert System Disk".

When I installed my "XP Install Boot Disk" it comes back and talks about Drive R = Tomato Unit 0 and Drive S = Tomato Unit 1, and then goes on to say I can fdisk and/or reformat, etc.

How do I get it to boot up so that I can install a backup HD and do a mirror image of everything. Do I reinstall XP on the C drive or what?

Thanks for your help!

Sasquatch

 

[norton850]

Start by physical removing the problem drive from the system. Make sure that your primary master hard drive still has the right jumper settings with the slave gone.

 

[Sasquatch]

Start by physical removing the problem drive from the system. Make sure that your primary master hard drive still has the right jumper settings with the slave gone.

Easy enough to do, but how will this effect the problem with the "Disk Boot Failure" of C: drive?

 

[norton850]

It's just the start of the troubleshooting process. Sometimes one bad drive can screw up everything else.

 

[Sasquatch]

I disconnected the backup drive and installed a new cable and it booted up fine.

I don't know if the cable was bad or the drive itself. I'll do some more troubleshooting to see if the drive is still ok, if not I'll install the new backup.

Thanks.