Community Newsletter: Q&A: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it
- 8/17/07 10:22 AM
Well written.
by bus - 8/7/07 8:03 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure by qdonGood advice on the MBR fix. I never had a HDD failure that was polite enough to try it yet. What I did the last time was to reformat the drive and then use my backup to restore the computer. I got 2 months out of the defective drive before I pulled it.
yes wipe drive and reload os
by pvotlucka - 7/27/07 11:42 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It will get rid of most errors that might come up. Wiping the system has so many advantages - but can be time consuming to put all your software and it's updates. Actually for heavy users it is quite normal to wipe the system once a year - especially if you try out all kinds of software. Everytime I wipe the computer - the first impression is that it runs much faster. This is because you put so much material on the hard drive over the years. On the other hand I know people who are opposite of me and their computer runs as slow as molasses and has errors. They find ways to adapt to the errors like rebooting. The best of both worlds is to install a second internal harddrive. Backup your data. Wipe your C drive/ reinstall your os,softwares and backup data. Buy and install a Norton Ghost - amazon has good prices - (used is fine). Ghost will backup whole system with everything on it and direct it to second hard drive.
Take the Ghost files and burn them to DVD as extra precaution.
From that point you can use your computer as you normally do. If you ever get a problem error or system gets sluggish you do system restore using ghost. It has taken me 12 minutes to completely restore my system.
disk boot failure
by aatish99 - 7/28/07 12:19 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
once u have to insert your oprating system cd which is using by you like 98,xp.. and boot from cd and repair your system after that maybe your prob was resloved.
Disk Boot Failure
by 1up2down - 7/28/07 1:31 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
When you turn on your computer, it searches for the boot device. The (disk boot failure) message comes when the computer fails to find the boot device. There are several reasons why it may fail to find it, the more obvious being that a non bootable disk has been left in the drive, or that the BIOS boot order settings are wrong.
The first thing I would do is check that I have not left a non bootable disk in one of the drives, especially in the floppy drive. Next I would check if the BIOS boot settings are in the correct order, I have known them not to be. Usually it is set to search for a boot devices in the following order.
1st Boot Device (Removable) this is usually the floppy disk drive.
2nd Boot Device (CDROM)
3rd Boot Device (Hard Disk)
To access the BIOS and check the settings, boot the computer. When you see the first splash screen, at the bottom it will normally tell you which key to press to enter the BIOS. Once in the BIOS, use the arrow keys to go to Boot. Here you will see the Boot Device Priority list. If it's in the wrong order you can correct it by clicking Enter on each of them in turn and selecting the right setting. When you've finished, press Esc to go back to the main menu, select Exit and save the new settings.
New installation
by BayorK - 7/28/07 2:03 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I will advise you to install fresh window so that you can have total control of your desktop,but make sure you install all the utilities supplied by your desktop manufacturer if there is any.hope that will help,moreover if you know you have too much stuff on your desktop and you think you dont want to loose them,you can make backup of all those stuffs on cd.
Disk boot failure
by Pcfreakske2000 - 7/28/07 2:16 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Marlene,
A "Disk Boot Failure" commonly is caused when something is physically wrong with the harddrive ( something hardware related ).
You could try to defrag the harddrive if you want to, by using either the Windows Defrag tool ( Start --> All programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> Defragmentation ).
Personally, I don't use that tool anymore.
In stead, I'm using Auslogics Disk Defrag ( http://www.auslogics.com ).
This is a freeware program that defrags your harddrive even quicker than the Windows tool.
If the defrag doesn't help you could try to find errors on the harddrive. To do this open Windows Explorer ( not Internet Explorer ) and click on "My Computer" and then look for the harddrive or drives if you have more than one.
Right-click on the harddrive and choose "Properties".
In the new window that appears click on the "Extra" tab and then look at the first section which says "Error Control" or something like that.
There is a button more to the right of it which says " Scan now" or something similar.
If you click that one you would probably have to reboot your machine and it will look for errors on your harddrive(s).
If that doesn't work, try to backup the data on the harddrive and simply buy a new one and just copy the files back to the harddrive.
I recommend using Cobian Backup for that.
I hope this answer helped you further.
Greetings,
Pcfreakske2000
disk boot failure" error
by jyvibar - 7/28/07 2:17 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
i also experienced disk boot failure error message. I suggest 2 options 1) unplug your Hdd cable and plug it again, then boot your pc.2) go to setup- boot menu, then make your hdd your first boot.
boot Problem
by ericajoan - 7/28/07 2:41 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Have only foun this problem with older motherBoards as the cap (condenser) are leaking if this unit is not new then look at all the caps for leakage or bulging at the top thay should be flat
Yours Erica
Marlene
by kchike - 7/28/07 2:42 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Marlene,
This problem tends to indicate a hard drive that's a little on the flakey side. If the drive is an old one, the platters my have been covered by and early medis coating using ferrous oxide, technically a refined form of rust. When you boot one of these old drives from a cold dead start. the drive begins to heat and correspondingly, the platter and media expand. This may account from the implied intermittancy of the problem. Unfortunately, the media will flake in microscopic bits as well. Newer drives have technically superior coatings or platings, like chromium dioxide.
In any event, backup your system onto a separate media ASAP, purchase a new drive and transfer your dick image over to the new drive using a utility like DriveCopy or any of the other suitible commercial packages. They make life easy and are pretty much fool proof if you have any technical savvy at all.
When your done, pull the old drive and make the new drive the master boot drive. You can use the old drive as a door stop, paper weight, techno sculture of for skeet shooting.
Good luck!
Don't dump the hard drive yet!
by Spockva - 7/28/07 4:19 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
When your computer starts, there is a screen that should appear that lets you change the boot sequence. It requires you to push a key, sometimes F8 sometimes F12, anyway, it should tell you which one to push. After pushing it, another screen should appear that shows how your computer looks for bootable devices. I have found that the best settings for proper boot up is to have the CD drive first, the hard drive second, and then all other drives and devices after that. If your computer is showing a network boot or a removable device as the first boot device, then that could be where your problem lies as the computer cannot find the device and possibly times out before it gets to the proper boot device.
os not found
by underwood44 - 7/28/07 4:23 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
try hitting f11 key on reboot on the HP and use the non- advanced system restore , this will repair the windows files on the computer , sounds like it could be a corrupt boot sector or possible the hd, I would return the computer if this does not work .Also the AV on these new computers is usually only good for 60 days . I would try AVAST for home with the windows defender both free and so far, quite good.
take it back
by ldsaint - 7/28/07 4:54 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If the computer is only a few weeks old take it back.
I would probably take the side of and check the power and data leads are firmly connected to the hard drive and that everything else hasn't been disturbed in transit, but if its quite new and you are unfamiliar with the hardware, and HP have put their do not remove stickers across the side panels then you'll only invalidate the warrantee.
The error is usually because the PC cant read the boot sector of the hard drive, this is because its either not there or there is a read fault. As your system will boot sometimes It has to be the latter so i wouldn't carry out a recovery you'll only wipe off your data. You either have a data cable fault, a hard drive fault or a motherboard fault.
If you can get the side off the PC and the connections are all good, then have a look at what make the hard drive is. If you cannot then ask HP and see if they know. Once you know the make you can go to the manufacturers website where there is usually a free download to some hard drive tools that will interogate your hard drive more thoroughly and often cure simple faults.
After all is said and done, on a new PC, it's really the retailers problem so get them to do it.
Boot failure
by Alain Martel1 - 7/28/07 5:24 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It looks like your drive don't have time to come up to working speed fast enough.
When you first boot up, the drive is still gaining RPMs when the system tries to access it, resulting in a failure.
On subsequent restarts, the drive is already running at the correct speed, so it's accessed correctly.
It could be that your PSU don't provide quite enough volts or current to the connector on witch the drive is connected. If that's the case, you may need to replace the PSU. This is however a low probability possibility.
But, it's more probable that the drive is faulty, it's motor been under-spects.
Another possibility, is that the drive have bad thermal compensation.
When you first startup, the drive is cold, but when you restart, it had time to warmup some. If the thermal compensation is faulty, the drive's heads can't be positioned properly on the tracks at some temperature, low in your case.
In that case, as the case of weak motor, you should get a replacement drive. A possibility would be to get a new drive and keep the original one and set it as the secondary one, used mostly for storing various personal files.
It's obvious that if the drive is slow to start or need to warm up to work properly, by the time you perform the various tests, the drive is comfortably up to speed and warmed up. Then, no test will show anything wrong.
One morning, DON'T start your computer, but bring it directly to a service center. Start it in front of a service man and show him the problem. Then ask for a waranty covered drive exchange.
As the system is relatively new, transfering your files to the new drive should be relatively easy and qwick.
Re: Disk Boot Failure
by wamaruna - 7/28/07 5:37 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The first thing I would suspect is that the hard drive is taking a bit too long to come up to proper operating speed. You'll want to go into your system BIOS. The BIOS is accessed differently on different machines, so check your system manual, or watch on your boot screen for access instructions, such as Press DEL. Once in the BIOS, review the various sub-sections, looking for a 'Quick Boot' option, and disable it, then save your changes and exit. This will allow the system to run a memory test upon bootup. The extra delay should provide the extra time needed for the drives to spin up to speed, which may alleviate your boot disk failure message.
Disk Boot Failure
by DrMicro - 7/28/07 6:35 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello Marlene,
While a "disk boot failure" can occur from a corrupt windows installation (in which case a full system restore from an image or restore CD's may solve your problem), it is often a sign of imminent hard drive failure and the hard drive should be replaced as soon as possible.
If you don't need to or don't want to save anything, then just reformat the hard drive and run the system restore CD's (or DVD) from HP that came with your computer. If you didn't receive any CD's or DVD's with your computer for restoring your computer, the files are on the computer and you have a utility from HP that will allow you to make restore CD's. You can find this on your start menu - program files. If using CD's you may need as many as six or seven blank CD-R CD's (do not use CD-RW disks).
Since your computer is probably still under warranty (unless you only got a 90-day warranty), your hard drive should be able to be replaced at no cost to you. If you bought the computer at a store, like Best Buy or Circuit City, they can do this for you, but don't do this yet if you want to save any of your data. To save your data, read on.
Before you start, gather up all your installation CD's from HP (or the ones you created) and any other software you've installed. If you downloaded software from the internet and the installation files are still on the computer (look on the desktop and any folder labeled "download" or "my downloads". Copy these also to a flash drive or CD. Print any email messages from purchased software that list your logon, password, product or activation keys.
If you want to save email, email account data, or favorites, you can do that also.
If you're using Outlook, your email files and data are contained in an outlook.pst file, which by default is located in C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\. Copy this file also. This folder is normally hidden, so you may need to go to My Computer - Tools - Folder Options - View. Under "advanced options, check the button that says, "Show Hidden Files and Folders". When you restore your PC, you will use this file to re-import your email, calendar and contact data.
If your operating system is Vista, your mail may be Windows Mail, which replaced Outlook Express. Your email will be in a folder called C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail,
but it will probably be easier for you to export your mail and contacts. Open Windows Mail and under the "File" menu, select "Export". For contacts use the CSV format and browse to your Documents folder for the location. Select all fields you wish to export. Do this again for your mail. Choose Windows Mail as the format and navigate to the location you wish to save the mail in (I recommend the Documents folder)
Next, copy all your pictures, documents, music and any other data files you wish to keep to a flash drive or CD or both. Depending on the amount of data you've accumulated in the six weeks you've owned the computer, you may exceed the capacity of a flash drive and may have to burn several CD's.
Once you have all your data backed up, you can reformat your current drive (though I still recommend replacing your hard drive) and reinstall your operating system plus all programs and data. Reinstall any antivirus and antispyware applications you may have and enable automatic updates from Microsoft. Go to Windows Update and download all critical updates for your operating system that are available for you.
If you're not comfortable with doing any or all of this yourself, I recommend you contact a local PC technician to either assist you or do it for you. If you want to save and restore your data as described above, make sure you stress this with the technician so there are (hopefully) no unpleasant surprises.
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