What the heck.."Insert boot diskette in drive A

Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for boot
record from floppy..Not found.
Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my cdrom's
don't read!)
'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or just boot
to windows?

not sure what 6 boot discs are?
are they the restore cd's sent with your pc, if so, they yes they will do a
restore.
however check for your floppy drive see if you left a non booting floppy in
it.
sometimes this may be caused by memory going bad.

"jt3219" wrote:

> Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for boot
> record from floppy..Not found.
> Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my cdrom's
> don't read!)
> 'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
> Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
> Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or just boot
> to windows?

When I installed XP Pro, I made 6 boot floppies as a precaution in the event
of this type of thing. There is no disk in drive A. Computer checks BIOS
screen, goes to next screen, then searches for a bootable record. These are
not manufacturers restore disks. I built this computer.

"sgopus" wrote:

> not sure what 6 boot discs are?
> are they the restore cd's sent with your pc, if so, they yes they will do a
> restore.
> however check for your floppy drive see if you left a non booting floppy in
> it.
> sometimes this may be caused by memory going bad.
>
> "jt3219" wrote:
>
> > Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for boot
> > record from floppy..Not found.
> > Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my cdrom's
> > don't read!)
> > 'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
> > Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
> > Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or just boot
> > to windows?

jt3219 wrote:
> Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for
> boot record from floppy..Not found.
> Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my
> cdrom's don't read!)
> 'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
> Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
> Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or
> just boot to windows?

Are the computers hard drive/s being recognised by the BIOS? It sound like
it/they are not.

"jt3219" <jt3219@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:819D63EB-ED27-40D2-966B-A7DC4D688D46@microsoft.com...
> Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for boot
> record from floppy..Not found.
> Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my
cdrom's
> don't read!)
> 'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
> Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
> Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or just
boot
> to windows?

Unless you made some changes in the bios...
your HD must have failed...
or perhaps the cable is loose

jt3219 wrote:

> Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for boot
> record from floppy..Not found.
> Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my
> cdrom's don't read!)
> 'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
> Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
> Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or just
> boot to windows?

The computer can't find the boot files to boot into Windows. This means that
your hard drive has failed and/or your motherboard has failed. Since the
optical drive isn't working either, I would look to the motherboard. You
can pull the hard drive and slave it into another computer to see if it is
dead or not. You can put another hard drive into the sick computer and see
if it reads. If it doesn't, you know it's the motherboard. Etc.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

On 2008-07-24, jt3219 hit the keyboard and wrote:
> When I installed XP Pro, I made 6 boot floppies as a precaution in the event
> of this type of thing. There is no disk in drive A. Computer checks BIOS
> screen, goes to next screen, then searches for a bootable record. These are
> not manufacturers restore disks. I built this computer.

I second the advice given. tear it apart and look at the
cables, etc and re-seat them also the power-cable sometimes
they get loose or at the connectors it can build up
corrosion. Also follow the advice of using another disk.

Maybe a LIVE-CD rom could also help, but if the CD-ROM not read...
Inspect the mobo if you can detect any leaking capacitors.

happy "error" hunting.


>
> "sgopus" wrote:
>
>> not sure what 6 boot discs are?
>> are they the restore cd's sent with your pc, if so, they yes they will do a
>> restore.
>> however check for your floppy drive see if you left a non booting floppy in
>> it.
>> sometimes this may be caused by memory going bad.
>>
>> "jt3219" wrote:
>>
>> > Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for boot
>> > record from floppy..Not found.
>> > Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my cdrom's
>> > don't read!)
>> > 'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
>> > Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
>> > Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or just boot
>> > to windows?



Dragomir Kollaric
--
This signature is licensed under the GPL and may be
freely distributed as long as a copy of the GPL is included... :-)

jt3219 wrote:

> Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for boot
> record from floppy..Not found.
> Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my cdrom's
> don't read!)
> 'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
> Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
> Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or just boot
> to windows?

Did you make sure there wasn't a non-bootable floppy already stuck
inside the diskette drive by pushing the eject button?

Umm yes... I didn't fall off the pumpkin truck yesterday. I'm going to try
Malke's suggestion.

"VanguardLH" wrote:

> jt3219 wrote:
>
> > Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for boot
> > record from floppy..Not found.
> > Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my cdrom's
> > don't read!)
> > 'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
> > Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
> > Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or just boot
> > to windows?
>
> Did you make sure there wasn't a non-bootable floppy already stuck
> inside the diskette drive by pushing the eject button?
>

Another head scratcher. I removed the 120 gb HD and installed it as a USB
drive on my laptop. My laptop wouldn't let me select the USB drive E for 1st
boot so I just ran anti virus, spyware programs, and then had my laptop check
the file system and fix any errors.
Prior to removing the HD, I tried to use my 6 boot disks but got to disk 4
and got error" DIMO.SYS corrupted".
I found an old win98 HD and plugged it in and it booted to Windows. Removed
win98 drive and plugged back in 120 gb HD and it booted to XP. No errors.
I suspect file system scan fix or dirty connection.
Although both of my CDROMS still don't work. I changed the cable on those.
And I still have packet scheduler miniport 4 error in my device manager.
Thanks all.


"Malke" wrote:

> jt3219 wrote:
>
> > Turned on computer this evening and got this message-Searching for boot
> > record from floppy..Not found.
> > Searching for boot record from CDROM..Not found. (for some reason my
> > cdrom's don't read!)
> > 'Insert boot diskette into drive A". Press any key.
> > Can't get it to boot to safe mode. Tapping F8
> > Ok, I have 6 boot disks. If I use these, will it do an install or just
> > boot to windows?
>
> The computer can't find the boot files to boot into Windows. This means that
> your hard drive has failed and/or your motherboard has failed. Since the
> optical drive isn't working either, I would look to the motherboard. You
> can pull the hard drive and slave it into another computer to see if it is
> dead or not. You can put another hard drive into the sick computer and see
> if it reads. If it doesn't, you know it's the motherboard. Etc.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
> FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
>
>