Question

DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER. New OS install. Old Machine w/ newer HD.

Asked by: matcom79

Hi,

I am trying to fix a system for a friend. The original OS was Windows 98. The system was built a few years ago.

The system had Norton's Go Back installed and after installing another program and restarting the computer it would freeze at the Go Back launch page during start up. I tried ctrl+alt+f and cntrl+alt+g but the program just crashed and went to safe mode. At safe mode it would again freeze up and the keyboard and mouse would freeze up. After trying to resolve many times I got fed up and decided to start from scratch.

I recovered all the data needed on the drive in my computer and reformated the HD on my machine.

I then put it in the old machine and tried to boot it up. This is where the problems started

PROBLEM 1: when I removed the drive originally the jumpers were in a strange position. They were in the cable select and slave position. The system recognizes this as the IDE Primary Slave. When I put it in my machine I put it in the cable select position and it recognizes it as the slave like it should. But if I put the jumpers on the master or the cable select position the start up does not list a Primary Master just slave.

PROBLEM 2: when I have the drive in and it is recognized as the Primary Slave. It runs thru setup and then dispays a page of data ending with

VERIFYING DMI POOL.......
NOT FOUND ANY [ACTIVE PARTITION] IN HDD
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

now I erased the partition on the drive when I had it in my machine (unallocated). If I mark the partition as active the second part of the message goes away (not found any [active partition] in hdd).

Either way when I put a boot in it just repeats the DISK BOOT FAILURE.

The boot disks I tried are:
     Diskpart
     EZ OS Install Bootdisk (www.ezosinstall.com)
     Bootdisk created from Win 2000 Pro intall disk (1-4)

I am sure I am doing something wrong but I just don't know what. This is my first time doing this and it is all very confusing to me. I tried FAQ and knowledge based help and found some trouble shooting help but it did not work. I did check the BIOS setup:

BOOT DISK SEQUENCE = A,C,SCSI
(I DON'T KNOW IF THE FLOPPY DRIVE IS A FOR SURE)
SWAP FLOPPY DRIVE = DISABLED
BOOT UP FLOPPY DRIVE = ENABLED
REPORT NO FDD FOR WIN 95 = NO

These are just a few of the options in this menu.

I hope someone out there can help me with these problems, Thanks.

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Asked On
2004-04-11 at 23:57:10ID20950715
Tags

boot

,

failure

,

system

,

insert

,

press

Topic

General Computer Systems

Participating Experts
5
Points
500
Comments
18

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Answers

 

by: matcom79Posted on 2004-04-12 at 00:03:29ID: 10803879

I forgot to mention the OS I am installing is Win 2000 Pro.

 

by: HippyWarlockPosted on 2004-04-12 at 01:13:21ID: 10804049

Suggest living with it as a slave for now. What is drive model/number? We can find the jumper setting then.
You need to set an active partition up using FDISK - looks like you have


set BIOS to:

1ST Boot Device  CDROM            
2ND Boot device  IDE1 (Primary Slave)

OR:
BOOT DISK SEQUENCE = C,CDROM (SCSI if it insists)    - Possibly D,CDROM
(I DON'T KNOW IF THE FLOPPY DRIVE IS A FOR SURE)  - it will be
SWAP FLOPPY DRIVE = DISABLED
BOOT UP FLOPPY DRIVE = DISABLED
REPORT NO FDD FOR WIN 95 = NO



put your Install 98 CD in the drive and press any key when prompted

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2004-04-12 at 05:21:57ID: 10804774

Your first problem may be one that can't be solved for that drive - some drives only work with their jumpers in a certain position, like Western Digital.

Your second problem will be solved if you set the boot sequence to select the cdrom before the hard disk, as HippyWarlock says.  The Win2000 cd will install a system on the hard disk, and once that's done, you can change the boot sequence back to the way you have it now.

 

by: ridPosted on 2004-04-12 at 10:31:05ID: 10806942

Redo the drive preparation in the original machine. That's the best way. Perhaps there was even a BIOS overlay to help recognizing a large drive, which is now gone or messed up. Always work with the HD in the machine it's going to sit, if at all possible.
/RID

 

by: compfixer101Posted on 2004-04-12 at 11:43:15ID: 10807477

well what i say is the computer is a peice of $#!t but

flash the bios ask Callandor for the website for help on that he will know

HIPPYWARLOCK   is right with it all so you should at least give him partial credit    at least

or if possible trade out the bios

 

by: matcom79Posted on 2004-04-12 at 16:16:40ID: 10809278

Thanks for the posts, I will try the different boot sequence. Hopefuly that works.

The HD is a Western Digital Caviar 80GB WB800JB-00ETA0

I would like the get the url for the website to flash the BIOS too.

Also, I do not have the Win 98 disk the guy who originally built the system never left the disk with my buddy. I have a copy of Win2K from my system before I converted it to XP.  

Thanks again.

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2004-04-12 at 19:00:15ID: 10810001

Did someone suggest flashing the BIOS?  I don't see that as necessary to solve your immediate problem, and if your current BIOS recognizes the drive, it's totally unnecessary.  Does your BIOS recognize the full drive?  If it doesn't, you may need a flash, and the brand and model motherboard will be needed.

 

by: compfixer101Posted on 2004-04-13 at 05:26:20ID: 10812623

yea i suggested flashing Callander you even adbandoned my question  

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2004-04-13 at 13:43:12ID: 10817363

compfixer101,

The best solution is the least intrusive one, and flashing the BIOS does not match the problem, so suggesting it is confusing, unless you can explain why you think it will work.

I didn't have any useful suggestions for you, so I didn't post anything, and HippyWarlock is in that thread also.  Don't be quick to jump to conclusions, or everyone will think you're immature.

 

by: matcom79Posted on 2004-04-13 at 19:59:51ID: 10819692

I tried changing the boot sequence to CDROM, C, A...
The error now reads...

Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM:  FAILURE........
Not found any [active partition] in HDD
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

The active partition part is not there when I set the HD jumpers to MASTER setting.

This machine seems to be more trouble than its worth, but my buddy does not want to invest in a new machine. So if you guys have any other suggestions I would sure appreciate them.

Also, how would I find out what motherboard I have?

Thanks

 

by: ridPosted on 2004-04-13 at 21:44:00ID: 10820115

Have you verified that you have working boot floppies to try with? I think I'd start with a DOS or win9X boot floppy and see if I can get the machine to boot at all. Then run fdisk, from this boot floppy, to view and possibly set up the HD once again. Then I'd proceed with an O/s install attempt, once the HD is properly recognised as Primary master in BIOS and has been successfully prepared (fdisk, format). While it is not necessary to partition and format the HD before installin win2k, for example, it is good practice if the HD seems dodgy. At least, if it fails, you know what component is giving you the trouble.
/RID

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2004-04-14 at 06:48:42ID: 10823344

You can find out the motherboard by downloading and running Aida: http://www.aida32.hu/aida32.php

 

by: myderrickPosted on 2004-04-16 at 07:46:20ID: 10842900

Resetting the BIOS is best. I had a similar problem some days ago. It gives "Primary master HD fail" eventhongh it was detected in BIOS etc.

I used three days and nver figured it out.

I just removed the CMOS battery for like an Hour. Fixed it back then it finally read

" Checksum error. Defaults loaded" It was fine and started WinXp installation. No further problems.

Resetting the CMOS/BIOS is likely to work.

MD

 

by: HippyWarlockPosted on 2004-04-17 at 13:08:57ID: 10850708

The CMOS hould drain out after 10 mins btw

 

by: compfixer101Posted on 2004-04-30 at 11:12:36ID: 10962554

reason for flashing bios

1. is probabaly is out to date

2. Slave instead of master incorrect setting thing

3. also you fixed the problem by resetting the bios  




finallly       you should     reward the points if you got the answer     and just so you know i reallly suggested to reset the bios or cmos before flashing it   but the computer was slow and must of not wrote it in and i assumed that it had big mistake  might have lost me some points          nutssssss

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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