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LucyTaylor

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Windows95 bootup problems

Hello, I am having major problems with my computer, My brother was installing some more memory and when he finished I could not get my computer to boot up.  when i try i get an invalid system disk.  There is nothing in my a drive so i do not know why it says that.  Then i tried to use a boot disk that i created. but still nothing it reads the same thing.  I think i might have to reformat my hardrive, but i do not know how, since i cant get to an a: prompt any help would be greatly appreciated
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rid
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The memory surgery may have left a cable disconnected or just slightly unseated. Have your brother check the interior again. This sounds like the hard drive is no longer in contact with the motherboard.

To be able to boot from a floppy, you may need to change settings in the computer's BIOS setup. The BIOS helps the machine go through tha startup procedure and this includes the search for "boot devices". The floppy needs to be in the list of possible boot devices; I prefer always to have the boot sequence "A: C: CDROM" or similar. This allows me to use a bootable floppy at any time without doing changes to BIOS setup.

The BIOS setup program can be called up during the POST procedure - the startup befor the actual boot. Normally you'll have a few screens with text only just after power is switched on. Often there is an instruction like "Press Del to enter SETUP" or so (there are many different key combinations used). Once inside the setup, you navigate with keys according to instructions that are normally found on the bottom screen line. If you feel uncomfortable with this, you should ask someone to help you, as key fumbles here may render the sytem unstartable.

In short you need to check the HD cabling, if this doesn't help you need to change boot sequence to include the floppy drive so you can run some diagnostic program to help you find the fault.

regards
/RID
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LucyTaylor

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Yes i have change my boot setup, all the cables are connected,
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The first thing I would suggest you do is get into your BIOS (usually it's done by holding down the Del key or some other key as you boot up; very often you will see a message telling you how to do it with some wording such as "Press <Del> to enter Setup") and check that everything is ok there.  If you don't know how to do this, let us know what sort of computer it is, brand as well as model, and somebody will likely know or can research it out.

Then, some of the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article might apply to you, even though it is describing the case of getting "Invalid System Disk" after you have just run Setup to install Windows 95:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q128730

Are you sure your boot disk works ok?  Try it on another computer, or perhaps you can use another computer to make a second good one.  Also, they can be downloaded from the following web site:  www.bootdisk.com

If you still cannot boot to a diskette in drive A:, then try booting to your drive C: as follows:  hold down the function key F8 as your system starts up and your display shows a message "Starting Windows 95..."  This will take you to what is called the Startup Menu, which gives you a choice of several options for continuing the boot, such as go to Safe mode, go to Normal mode, and go to a Command Prompt.  Choose the last one, and you should be taken to a DOS prompt on your hard drive probably showing something like this:

c:>

Type a DOS command "DIR" (without the quotation marks) and hit enter, to see if the file structure is OK on your hard drive.  If you know anything about DOS, then you might be able to do some other troubleshooting.  Otherwise, get back to us with the results so far and we can continue with your next steps.

Whoops, while I was doing all that typing, a lot more was going on.  Hi, Rid!
Intriguing...
Am I correct:
1) the boot order is A: C:
2) even with a known bootable floppy in the drive, you get "invalid system disk..." message?

Next step would be to check BIOS values for the floppy drive, that they conform to the drive used in yout system.

Also, when in BIOS setup, check computer time and values for the hard drive. Can it be detected with autodetect? If so, that's a valuable tool to find out if the drive is awake at all. If no autodetect, check drive parameters.

Regards
/RID
Hi... working in paralell, apparently. Let's hope it can be considered first class assistance!
/RID
Hello, i cannot get to the windows95 startup window, it reads invalid system disk before it gets to that point.
Were you able to get into the BIOS?  Did everything look OK in there as far as your drives?  If you have a Windows 95 installation CD, you can change the boot sequence so you can boot to the CD first, and then you would have to reinstall Windows.  Can you think of any other alternatives, Rid?
Yes, I  put in my windows95 cd and set it to boot from the cd, but it still reads invalid system disk.  The only way i can get something different is when insert a norton system works emergency disk, but it only give me thier program to fix it, which it does not.
I didn't know win95 came on bootable CD:s, so that may explain why it doesn't boot from CDROM. It is very odd that you cannot get it to boot from a bootable floppy. Can you verify that your boot floppy indeed is bootable, like it works in another computer?

I keep thinking that your BIOS values may have been corrupted, a bad CMOS battery could cause this. Does the BIOS have HD autodetect? Can it detect your HD correctly? If so try to autodetect the HD again, save and exit BIOS setup and reboot without power cycling. Still no go?

Regards
/RID

Lucy
"My brother was installing some more memory"
Lets get back to the root of the problem Take out the stick of memory you brother put in and try to see if it will start

...Bob
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j_powers

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Yeah agree with mousmasterbob. Assuming the system was woking properly before adding the memory it seems logical to assume that it may be the root of the problem so remove the memory module that was added and see what happens.


The Crazy One
mu harddrive is a quatum
Its really outstanding on how a little problem can lead someone into doing wierd things and drastic things. One has to remember to think root cause!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Things worked before the memory change, correct? As mousmasterbob recommended, put it back as you had. memory needs to be the same speed and is funky on some boards. Have you looked at what your board supports or are you just trying it out? Dave
Lucy,
a) all of the above sounds like perfect advice, try to put the system back to the way it was before the failure,

b) Have you been sucessful in loading the BIOS screen and verifying the settings there?  If your not sure, post what you see and someone will help you

c) If hardware is what has changed and apparently caused the problem, I wouldnt be looking to software (win 95 cd ) to fix it.  Your problem is more than likely failed or improperly connected equipment.  I would lean towards BIOS settings, then calbing, then HDD or MB
i've solved your type of problem by simply pulling the jumper off the hdd, let it use default
did you fdisk to see if the hdd is present??
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Sounds like you have an older machine and the cable might not be connected.  It is quite possible your brother tood it out when installing the RAM, then put the cable back wrong.  So check this...

Open the case and look at the cable for the harddrive.  The cable will have a red stripe along one side.  Now check the connection to the harddrive, that red stripe should be on the same side as the power plug.  Now check the connection for the motherboard.  The pin layout will have some numbers on both ends.  On side has a 1 on either the right or left side.  The red stripe needs to be on the 1 side.

Hope this works for ya!

Hello LucyTaylor,

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Per recommendation, force-accepted.

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rid: points for you at https://www.experts-exchange.com/jsp/qShow.jsp?ta=win95setup&qid=20323292
LeeTutor: points for you at https://www.experts-exchange.com/jsp/qShow.jsp?ta=win95&qid=20323293
mousmasterbob: points for you at https://www.experts-exchange.com/jsp/qShow.jsp?ta=win95&qid=20323296