Community Newsletter: Q&A: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it
- 8/17/07 10:22 AM
Ominous Disk
by tintinmilou - 7/27/07 8:17 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Marlene,
Since it's intermittant, it's very possibly a sign of a hard disk going bad. Since you mentioned that you've only had it six weeks, I'd take it back to the store where you bought it. Before you get much invested in it, in terms of work and files and such, it's best to get that drive replaced and re-imaged.
If there's no warrantee, replacement hard-drives are relatively inexpensive. Hopefully you have the system installation disks to restore your system software.
disk boot failure" error
by Mike Hallock - 7/27/07 8:28 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I noticed that you said you've only had this computer for six weeks. Well, it must still be under some type of warranty program. I suggest that you go to the people you bought the unit from and get them to fix the problem. Why should you have to put up with this? Put it on their shoulders to get it working right. People should always contact the sellers of this equipment if your system is not working right! Stand up for your rights!!!
Disk Boot Failure
by martingreg3 - 8/18/07 1:41 AM In reply to: disk boot failure" error by Mike HallockI accept all the good advice given on this matter, but fundementally this error message is emitted by the BIOS on the motherboard, and indicates that the boot sequence is failng.
On pre XP machines DOS was used to load Windows and the sequence to loading DOS was to load IO.sys, DOS itself and execute the internal command within DOS or autoexec.bat. In due course win.com would be loaded and if all the bits of code were in place then windows would come up.
With XP this dos sequence is hidden and eventually the loader for XP is loaded and XP comes up in the same way.
There are a few excellent utilities within Windows for making boot disks for pre XP machines, and some excellent work externally for rewriting boot tracks. All however need some minimal work to make their function seamless and appropriate for the home user.
martingreg3@aol.com
JY
by MARTIN TEAD - 11/27/08 10:29 PM In reply to: Disk Boot Failure by martingreg3TELL ME HOW TO DO THAT 'CAUSE I'M HAVING A HEADACHE TO INSTALL WINDOWS
Try replacing the cable!
by Tom Test - 7/27/07 8:33 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had a problem similar to yours, did a lot of digging on google and got lots of advice, ran a bunch of diagnostics and could not find any problems. I thought my drive was ready to fail, so I looked into replacing it. But I happened to have a spare SATA cable lying around, and for the heck of it, tried replacing the cable. Since then, I've had no problems!
My advice - before you buy a new hard drive, buy a replacement cable and see if that makes a difference. You might save yourself lots of $$$, like I did!
Try replacing the hard drive interface cable!
by jmccardl - 8/3/07 8:19 PM In reply to: Try replacing the cable! by Tom TestI have been in the computer and electronics industry since 1962. I have found that whilst product is often well designed the production people love to save a few cents here and there and usually it is always with connectors. I have seen quite a few problems with the ide 40 pin connectors and I guess the new SATA cables and their fragile looking connectors are almost begging to cause trouble. These cables are very cheap and whilst HP should fix it all under warranty often the hassle is not worth it. If you can replace the Hard drive data cable with a replacement cable you will save yourself all the hassle of having to reload all your data and programs again. Do save any data you have eg documents or pictures etc and do not forget to save any emails which are a pain because they are stored in the Documents and settings folder in an obscure location.
So your action plan should be
1. Save/backup your email, your documents and pictures and music.
2. do not bother trying to backup your programs because generally they need to be installed not just copied back.
3. Unplug the AC mains cable so the computer is NOT powered on. Replace the hard drive cable or at least unplug it and then re-plug it back in again. If you have a spare 4 pin power lead in the computer (with yellow, black, black, red) then unplug the power connector from the hard disk and swap it over with the spare, if not then unplug and then re plugin the power connector as I have seen these give trouble, but the error message is usually "hard drive 0 missing" or something similar.
4. Listen for any noises of the hard drive spinning up when you turn on the p/c, with practice you can easily tell if the hard disk is starting, it is just a quiet whirring noise, but it is important to note if it is starting up.
Good luck and remember the motto "He or She who backs up their data can smile when things go pear shaped in the computer."
JIM McC
respond to Marlene
by solaris99 - 7/27/07 9:11 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi, I had a problem somewhat similar to yours.
The restore option has been on since I had my computer. I started to do a restore operation on every restore date available from the date I start having problem, and after restoring to five earlier restore point of the bad operation starting day, I got back a stable PC.
I also lost the use of some program I had download and tried in this period, so it appear that one of those program was interferring in my system, and I did not retry any of them since.
Re: Disk boot failure
by edgar_0587 - 7/27/07 9:58 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello.
Until recently I was experiencing the same boot failure problem. It's weird as the problem began when I installed Vista. Since it seems that your computer is new, I assume that's the operating system. The solution is to leave the Windows vista (or your recovery cd) in the drive when you start up your computer, but don't press any keys when prompted to boot from it, then the operating system will load. This is only a quick fix though.
Since this is a new computer....
by 4Denise - 7/27/07 10:00 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Ordinarily, I'd tell you to back up all your data and then do a clean install. However, this is not an ordinary situation. Since this is a new computer, and the problem you are describing has been happening since you got it, I suggest backing up your personal data, reinstalling the factory software, and returning the computer immediately. There is no reason that a computer that you just bought should do something like this. They should have immediately advised you to do this. Either there is something wrong with the computer or it is not new. In either event, you are entitled to an exchange.
4denise
It's a motherboard problem
by yagami_kira - 7/27/07 10:11 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Exact same problem I have like Marlene. Fortunately, I have two hard disks installed on my computer so I can diagnose it better. Mine was not a hard disk problem because during POST, it will not detect both hard disks and it will only show "NONE". It will however, continue bootup and will say "disk boot failure". THIS IS A MOTHERBOARD PROBLEM
Marlene, I have to ask you, during POST, what do you see? If on the "Detecting IDE Drives", you cannot see the hard disk or it says NONE, it's a motherboard problem.
I hear that...
by lotacats05 - 8/4/07 10:21 AM In reply to: It's a motherboard problem by yagami_kiraI kept loosing my harddrive, system couldn't see it, loss the device manager as well...swapped out the mobo and voila...works great.
Have you checked bios boot settings?
by grahroll - 7/27/07 10:49 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
In some circumstaces this error can result from the bios having a non boot drive as the first selection in the boot priority section if you have more than one Hard drive installed. If it is this normally on a startup you get the error then when you press enter the machine then boots correctly. To correct this you enter the bios on starting your machine. Award Bios generally require pressing the Del key as your machine starts up before the windows startup begins and some HP machines require ctl + atl + esc or F1 but the HP screen you see on starting your machine should describe which key or keys should be pressed to enter your bios. Once in the bios look for the section that has the boot order in it. On most bioses it is the section before the exit section. Look at the drives selected to boot from and in what order (you can change the boot order to try booting from your CD/DVD drive first or from your floppy etc and for a slightly faster boot select the hard drive as the first one). If the non boot hard drive is showing as the active hard drive for booting change to the correct hard drive, usually you can swap them by pressing the + and - keys. Once you have the correct drive selected save the changes to your bios and restart your machine. If this was the issue you should no longer see the error.
Disk Boot Failure
by cyberashish2000 - 7/27/07 11:04 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Dear Marlene,
Disk Bot failure error comes mainly because of corruption of the boot record stored on the disk. The best way to get rid of this is, go to command pompt and use "sys" command to reload the system files (original DOS files, namely, Command.com, IO.sys and MSDOS.sys
Then this problem will not reoccure
Disk boot failure
by qdon - 7/27/07 11:21 PM In reply to: Disk boot failure: What is it and what can I do to resolve it by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have had this message a number of times. There were different explanations on different occasions.
Before you do anything else, back up your computer. The time it takes to back up is much less than the time it takes to recover from a disk failure (if you can). I've been there. At the very least, back up your documents, pictures, music files, and data files.
Two possibilities you need to consider: your system is attempting to boot from a disk/drive/card without a system file, or your Master Boot Record (MBR)is faulty, a sign your hard disk may be about to fail.
The first possibility occurred to me: my computer (a Gateway Core 2 Duo) was giving me the message 'Unable to find DOS.' It turned out that it was trying to boot from a memory card in my USB-connected photo printer. When you boot/reboot, you may see a (sometimes brief) message "Press <Del> to setup BIOS options" or similar message. The keys are usually <Del>, <F2>, <F10>, or <F12>. When you are brought into your Setup screen, go to Boot Options. The most frequent sequence for boot is <Floppy> (if you have one), Optical Drive (CD/DVD drive) and HD0, your main hard drive. Unless you have a boot system on a USB flash drive, you do not want your machine to attempt to boot to a USB. This was the cause of my difficulty. I had to disable 'Boot USB First', an option I hadn't seen when I set up the machine.
If this does not work, you need to try to refresh your Master Boot Record. I have a program from GRC associates (www.grc.com) called SpinRite, which refreshes the signals on the tracks on your drives. It has save a failing drive long enough to allow me to copy it over to another drive. There are other programs, including free ones, that will refresh your MBR. A copy of your MBR is kept in the early tracks on the hard drive, and various programs will 'refresh' your MBR.
If you succeed in getting your computer to boot, I suggest you think about a new hard drive. The 'failure to boot' is often the early death call of a failing hard drive.
If your drive fails to boot, not all is lost. Borrow a hard drive from a friend who has the same OS as your computer. Use the other hard drive to back up your hard disk. Once a drive has failed to boot, I replace it and use it as auxiliary storage for non-critical data (e.g., music and video files I can replace).
I hope this is helpful.
Whatever the outcome of your situation, I cannot emphasize enough backing up your hard drives periodically (e.g., once a month) and your data files frequently (daily). Been there. Done that. Saved my skin more than once.
Disk boot failure due to Memory Card
by scafeets - 8/4/07 7:28 AM In reply to: Disk boot failure by qdonI have similar problems with a Dell that won't boot properly whenever another memory device (SD card, USB memory stick, external HD) is present. I've had several IT professionals look at this machine and none have been able to remedy the situation, so I just make sure that I turn on the external HD, and make sure there are no other memory devices in attached, after booting.
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