Disk boot failure, Insert system disk and press enter

[Shadow Rider]

This is strange, I'm getting a error on startup that says "Disk boot failure, Insert system disk and press enter"

If my Windows XP CD is in the drive then I don't get that error and it boots into windows, or if I inserted it after and press enter everything's ok. But the computer can't go into windows just booting from the hard disk.

This is happening on my comp's hard drive and a brand new western digital 160GB hard drive I just bought and installed XP to so I'm thinking its a hardware problem.

I've gone into bios and made sure that boot order goes 1. hard disk, 2. hard disk 3. cd rom.

I've also booted into repair mode and tried fixmbr, fixboot c, bootcfg /scan, bootcfg /rebuild on my first hd. I've tried resetting the CMOS battery, unplugging the power, removing and repluggint the IDE. All with No luck.

Anyone know anything else I can try that might fix the problem?

[Mak213]

Go to the Recovery Console and use the fixboot and fixmbr commands. See if that fixes it for you.

But you will need CD to boot first.

[Shadow Rider]

Originally Posted by Makaveli213

Go to the Recovery Console and use the fixboot and fixmbr commands. See if that fixes it for you.

But you will need CD to boot first.

Tried both already, neither helped. THis is happening on all my hard disks that I tried with the desktop.

[atomic tofu]

this is a new system? these are normal drives and not dvr only drives?

so, if you are sure your boot order is ok...what is your drive type setting?
if it's not raid, don't have it as raid...and if you can find it...set the setting that deals with achi/ide to...ide

[Shadow Rider]

This is a pretty old desktop I bought in 2001. But the hard drive is completely new ATA Western Digital I just bought.

[Shadow Rider]

YA! So I fixed it, knock on wood.

I dunno which of these steps was the one that ultimately fixed it but for anyone else struggling

go into repair mode

do "chkdsk"
do "chkdsk /p"
do "fixboot"
do "fixmbr"

[Shadow Rider]

Ugh, When I take the drive off the ide and power and plug it back in I get the same error again...someone, what is going on? Maybe its the way I took it off without cutting the main power to the computer.

[atomic tofu]

Originally Posted by Shadow Rider

Ugh, When I take the drive off the ide and power and plug it back in I get the same error again...someone, what is going on? Maybe its the way I took it off without cutting the main power to the computer.

yeah...that's not a good idea, computers don't tend to work that way....even the systems with hot swapping drives...as a mild static charge can occur, and anything mild can turn into something major

[DawnOfDoom]

It is always best to shut down completely and THEN remove any peripherals you want. and put there where yo uwant on your new system that should be shut down as well and get all your connections hooked up. then boot the system. thats how i transfered all my music from my old IDE drive to my newer larger drive.

[Shadow Rider]

Problem finally solved. To help someone in the future, turns out the IDE cable connected to the hard drive broke down. Got a new one for $4. Attached it, fixed!