Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk And Press Enter

[elTorito]

DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

Compaq Presario 6000 series desktop. modwl 6470NX

So i went out and bought a new ide hd for it.

wd caviar se 160gb/EIDE

i did the quick restore and everything went well. i connected to the internet.
i hooked up to ms to get software updates.

i got and applied xp sp2. rebooted. went back for sp3.
Do you want to restart now? I said yes and went to bed

next morning . . .this is what the computer monitor had:
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER


i can no longer get pass that!


So it probably wasnt the hard drive, right?

When it boots, i see it go "detecting ide drives" and it just hangs there, till it gives the 'disk boot failure' message.

i went to the bios.
Primary master: none
primary slave: none
Secondary master: HL-DT-ST GCE848
Secondary slave: JLMS XJ HD 166S


all things considered, i would feel better if 'primary master' was not blank,
and secondary master slave were blank

I ONLY TOOK OUT THE ORIGINAL HD AND PUT ONE IN ITS PLACE

Maybe i plugged it into the wrong place? I CANT! THERE IS ONLY ONE PLACE ON THE MOTHERBOARD WHERE IT CAN BE PLUGGED IN WITH THAT 40 THREAD CABLE!



What if i get a controller card? and hook up the hd to the card?
Can that be my primary?? You think i can boot from there?

This is of course my 'plan B'

For plan A, i dont have any ideas. i'm going to check the cables again i guess.

oh, and in the bios i tried to make it 'detect' the primary, but of course it does nothing.

Oh, and i'm also thinking of putting back the original hd. probably nothing wrong with it.

Oh, yeah, and i'm going to download the cd-toolset whatever its called which is recommended here

[elTorito]

i put back the old drive and everything same

so i put back the new one. everything same

yes, i do have the cables going to the right places.

For example, the hd is connected to the 40 thread connector that says "master" and it is black.

I did download the ultimate boot cd.

Right now it is writing: "cannot read master boot record".

i tried some diagnostics (2). None of them can see a hard drive.

Not looking good

i ended up leaving the new hd in the machine.

again. it is not 'seen'. as if it wasnt there

in fact. once i left it unplugged from the power supply, and i got the same exact message

DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER



But like i said, i did a quick restore on it 2 days ago!

next thing, i guess i will do it again!

it is 2:10 am here. . . . . hmmmm

[elTorito]

i tried to do the quick restore just now: nothing. it doesnt work any more

'No hard disk found' 'system recovery cannot be continued!'

i swear i did it 2 days ago. even connected to the internet. even downloaded sp2, applied it. went back for sp3!

[elTorito]

i'm starting to think maybe both my HDs are really bad.
The old one, obviously. And the new one was a lemon! It only lasted 48 hours, and now it is completely inoperable! Go buy another one just to see?

[liambl]

Note: Please use the "Edit" function instead of posting multiple consecutive posts. Thanks.

Double check all cables are tight and fully seated. I would replace the cable before dismissing the drives.

[Kuch]

Do you have a second computer you can try the HDDs on? I would do that before you buy another drive. This could narrow down where the issue lies. After that I would try new/different cables. I have found they can go bad as often as HDDs.

[>:() - Tiki Man]

Also something worth trying is making sure that the jumpers on the back of the hard drives are in the right spot (master - or you can try cableselect if master doesnt work); and maybe as a last resort you could clear the CMOS, then format the hard drive on a seperate computer then try to install windows.

also check around for loose screws, hahaha

[Force Flow]

Power down the PC, hit the off switch on the PSU (if there is one) and unplug the power cord.

Let it sit for a while, then open it up and unplug the drive's data connections (both on the drive and on the motherboard). Also double check the IDE cable on the CD drive.

Unplug the HDD power cable and plug the power cable back in.

Now plug the computer back on, flip the PSU switch back on (if there was one), and try to boot the computer.

If it boots, go ahead and shut it down again, and put the case back together.

[elTorito]

Update

i got a new cable at radioshack. tried it and the HDD is still not seen by the computer.

So thats definitely not the problem

As far as jumper switches: This one is really easy: i have it as a single drive. . .no jumpers!
(as per the instructions right on the hdd itself!) -it came with 'cable select', i tried it but 'cable select' did not work, so i'm, thinking i am better off with 'single drive' (no jumpers)

i am close to getting another HDD. i'd like to try the drive on another puter. but dont have access to one. It's probably the motherboard, isnt it?

If it is the motherboard, can i just bypass it? i mean get a controller card, attach the drive to the card, and boot that way?

[glc]

Maybe - but when a Compaq Presario starts self-destructing like this, it's time to start thinking about a replacement computer.

[CinciTech]

Don't blame your Compaq. This time. I have a new build, installed WinXP, installed SP3, and boom, same error. Found this page on the subsequent search. It appears SP3 is the culprit. For a quick fix, try booting the computer with your Windows CD in the drive. It then says press any key to boot from CD, five dots, and Windows loads normal. Try it again without the install CD, and error reappears.

Soyo SY-P4I845 GVISA Plus board, Prescott CPU, 512MB RAM, 80GB WD hard drive. I've got three of these to build, and I imagine this problem will pop up on all three... But hopefully this info helps you with the issue.

Update, 3 hrs later: Double check your BIOS. I continued searching and someone else had fixed this issue by noting that somehow their boot device priority had changed. I checked my BIOS, and my problem was in fact related to failure of my keyboard operator... The BIOS on this board lists (under boot device priority) HDD1, HDD2, HDD3 further down the list from HDD0. I skimmed over and missed HDD0, so it was trying to boot from a nonexistant disk. What made it work, in my case, was using the boot CD, which knows where Windows is stored even if BIOS doesn't. :P Problem solved, hope the info helps others.

[glc]

Cinci, the problem here is the hard drive isn't even being seen by the bios at all.

Okay - you either have 2 dud drives on your hands, a bad cable (already swapped, right?), or a failed motherboard controller. One more thing to try - a different power lead to the drive.

[elTorito]

tried using another power lead- not the issue

i just want this thing to work so my daughter can use it for clubpenguin, thats it!

And yes, i did swap the cable - in fact, i left the new one in place.

** update 5/11/08 **
I found another hd that i know to be good that i had stored for years.
Again, the bios doesnt even see the HDD.
I wish i could restore the cmos from scratch. i tried googling, but no luck.
Why does the bios think i have a 'secondary' set of HDs? and no Primary?
and of course it cannot boot from the 'secondary'. . . Looking at the pc,
it looks like it only has room for a 'slave' primary and thats it! there is not even any room
for a 'secondary' set. nor is there a place on the motherboard to plug it in!



anyway, "i am this close" to giving up.

Thank you all for all your help

[elTorito]

**========================**
update (sorry, i could not Edit!) 05/12/2008 10:40pm
**========================**


i got the computer to see the drive!

Unfortunately i did two things, so i dont know which one did the trick.

1- I decided to remove a 'wireless' card i had attached to the computer a while
back when it worked.
2- i decided to re-check the HDD connections- The one to the HDD was a no-brainer,
it looked good. no room for error. The one to the motherboard is a little different:
not that easy to see. so i unplugged it and then when i plugged it back in, it did not
look good. so i unlplugged it and i noticed one of the little wires sticking up from
the male-connector part in the motherboard was a little crooked. and so i noticed that
the connection was not really coming to a full close. I just fixed the connnector wire
with my finger, and then i felt the connection really coming to a full close!



When i was booting, i exited to bios AND I COULD NOW SEE THE PRIMARY DRIVE!

I started doing a full restore from the quick-restore CDs (i booted on the maxtor i
had stored for years, and it came to a Windows ME. so forget about that! i am not touching this thing,
just put it back to the way it came from the factory)

I am planning on going to SP2 right away. May wait a little before going to SP3 based on
my experience. Yes, i know better, but still, i rather wait a week before going to sp3

i'm thinking it had to have been the connector not closing. it makes the most sense to me.

But on the other hand, it bugs me that my problems started long ago. In fact, i changed
the cable from the motherboard to the HDD a few days ago, and left the new one in place.
so obviously i did a bad job then, But how about before then??

[liambl]

Originally Posted by liambl Double check all cables are tight and fully seated.

Hmmmm.

[oryx]

Bent pins certainly would cause a boot failure. You would need to straighten them out. However, bent pins were probably not the original source of your problems, as you surmise. You probably bent the pins installing and reinstalling the drives. That can happen easily.

2 Questions:
Which drive is in the computer now?
Before all the trouble started had you installed SP3?