Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM: Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter

[tailhawk]

Hi, i am new to the forum world so please forgive me if i have posted in the wrong area.
i inherited a computer that i am trying to get up and running but, i keep getting the msg in the title (for this thread) whenever i try to get in. What i was told about the computer is that they believe it ran on WinME.

i have disconnected the other drives to make sure that it was booting from the hard drive. it was so this was not the issue. i have also tried using several different boot disks. any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
tailhawk

 

[Peddant]

If your trying to boot the OS from the Hard drive,you need to make sure that the Hard drive is first thing in the boot order in the BIOS.If your trying to boot from the CD,the CD drive has to be first.A bootable disc also has to be in the drive.Here`s the knowledge for the BIOS - http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/reinstall-reformat-winxp/enter-BIOS.html And welcome to Techspot.

 

[tailhawk]

thanks for your help but, i could not find the faq page that you sent to me.

while i got to Cyberwalker i could not get the specific page that you are referring to. i got a not found web page. But i really do appreciate your help with this.
thanks
tailhawk

 

[Peddant]

Gosh I`m so gauche.Sorry.It should work now.

 

[tailhawk]

thanks for the lead.

When I got this computer it had sat for about 2 years. The battery had died and I was getting a CMOS error. The article that I read on the BIOS mentioned that my boot info is stored on a chip. Is it possible that this information was lost when the battery died. If so how do I resolve this issue and restore this information without being able to get past the message that i keep getting when I turn my computer on?

 

[Peddant]

If you replace the battery,the BIOS should be just fine(it`s hardwired).It will be set to the default settings,so you might still have to change the boot order(depending on what you want to do).You can still change the boot order with a dead battery,but you`ll have to do it every boot,because it won`t "remember"