Need help "Disk boot failure, insert system disk"

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Hello, i recently posted a reply in another forum about this issue. I wasnt having any luck there so maybe someone could help me. I looked over some of the posts on other forums but my situation is a little different. Here it is. A friend of mine was using my computer one day and it just crashed on him. Now it will boot up and the memory test is fine but when it goes through the drives it reads primary hard disk....none. The floppy drive and cd-rom drives read fine. Then it proceeds and comes up with the message "disk boot failure, insert system disk." What could be the problem here? He does not have a floppy boot disk for the computer. Would a boot disk created by another computer with Windows XP help? Any ideas of how to get back into the computer without losing the hard drive?
 
have you tried undoing the IDE cable and then re-plugging it back in? I know sometimes ive had the kind of problem when putting together a old machine. I end up just redoing my cables and it will come on. Then again if it dosent work I usally end up putting a diffrent HD in instead. Im kinda new here so i prolly dont have the best advice but it the only thing i can think of.

This might sound stupid, but ive seen it more than enough times. I think its only on older machines, but if you leave a floppy disk in the drive, shut down, and then turn the machine back on with the floppy in. The computer will say something along those lines and not boot into windows. All you have to do is take out the flopply and restart.

Best of Luck to You! :giddy:
 
I tried replugging the hard drive cables a few times actually. This was before i took the hard drive out and tried it in another computer as a slave. This did not work either. There wasnt any disks in the floppy drive either. So im really not sure what to do here? any more advice or ideas? Im sure there has to be a way to get back into the system without losing everything.
 
If you can't get that particular hard drive to work, try putting in a new hard drive, and see if that works. If it does, then you can install XP,2000, or whatever OS you were using on the new HD.

After the whole install is complete and you are in windows, shut down, then plug the HD that didnt work up as slave. Now watch in the BIOS to see if the HD is recognized. If it is then your in luck, if not then that HD must be bad. If the HD is good and its recognized you should be able to view it in windows, and you can take all of your data and transpher it.

Also you can goto a working computer with the HD and plug it up as a slave/master (which ever fits the setup) and see if it is recognized. This will determine if the drive is bad or not.

If all fails, I think your HD is dead. I've had HD's die on me before, it sucks, but you live with it. I hope that your HD isnt dead and keep me updated and I will do my best to help you out. :D
 
I'm guessing his harddrive might have died, especially if you tried it in another computer as a slave.

Go to the harddrive's manufacturer's website and see if you can find some drive diagnostics to run. Most manufacturers have them.
 
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