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Tor77
Ron Jeremy Apprentice
+84|6938|Norway
Hi guys, I just got a new computer and set it up on friday. Everything went fine until I got this message: "Disk boot failure - insert system disk and press enter".

This is - at first sight - an easy problem to fix. But it turns out it's not. Usually when you get this message you have just forgot to set the boot sequence properly in BIOS or simply forgot to put in a system disc (sic!).

Anyway - I would be very grateful if someone could help out here. I haven't been playing for about a month and I'm starting to have a social life again. Please help me isolat myself with BF2!

This is what I have done so far to try to fix the problem:

- changed the boot sequence in BIOS
- checked that all the cables are plugged in, and correctly
- attached another HD (not that it matters - just wouldn't want anything untried)
- tried with both burned and original Windows CD's
- tried to hook the DVD to another IDE port
- changed the cables to make sure none of them are defect
- made sure the PC finds the DVD reader (which it does)
- made sure the PC finds the harddrive (which it does)

Like I wrote the DVD burner is detected in BIOS which obviously means it's hooked up correctly and..err..is powered. HOWEVER, none of the CD's I put in starts up. When I press "Enter" when prompted, the Windows CD isn't starting to spin inside the reader. It just stays still.

In other words; I'm running out of solutions. I'm gonna try another DVD reader tomorrow that I borrowed today. Someone also told me I should flash or update the BIOS, but I have no clue how to do that when I'm not able to get any sort of data into the computer. Let alone able to run any flash software. I don't have a floppy drive either, so you can nix both the BIOS flashing and the floppy option.

If anyone wants to know - this is my core system:

Atec P180, cabinet
ATI SN8 Deluxe, motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 4000+, CPU
XFX GeForce 7800GTX, graphics
Samsung SpinPoint 250GB SATA, harddrive
Kingston 2048 PC3200 DDR RAM
Seasonic S12 600W, PSU

The DVD burner is a SONY.

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,
Tor

Last edited by Tor77 (2006-03-04 18:32:20)

Yaocelotl
:D
+221|6936|Keyboard
Many times the answer to these things rely on checking that no diskettes are in the floppy drive. No matter what order do you have your boot if it has a floppy drive it will check it. By the way, you are not telling how did things went fine because these messages appear when you power up your pc. If these PC has multiple HD (hard drives) check that all of them are properly connected and then power up. If that doesn't solve your case you will need to format your HD because it doesn't seem to detect the boot sector in it (if it has any). If you still can't boot it properly PM me and I will gladly try to help you out. Good luck man.
od1ous
Member
+4|6947
reinstall the os again, hit delete when prompted, upon reboot go to bios setup, change your first boot device from ide device to your primary hard drive.  As far as flashing your bios Asus should have an automatic update feature where you can flash your bios via windows.  Maybe this will help, however without the machine in front of me the scenarios are endless.  But it really sounds like your dvd player isn't reading data properly which would ultimitaly corrupt the os installation.
Tor77
Ron Jeremy Apprentice
+84|6938|Norway
Thanks for the feedback guys! However, I'm not sure if I made myself clear: this is a brand new set-up. Nothing is installed on the harddrive. It just got out of the box. I got the system on friday and put it together - all brand new parts. In other words, the HD is squeeky clean. There's no OS installed on it.

...so now you see why I'm so frustrated.

Thanks for the feedback, tho. Sorry if I didn't make myself clear.
Tor77
Ron Jeremy Apprentice
+84|6938|Norway
Also, like I wrote - I don't have a floppy drive.
InnerMonkey
Member
+62|7005
Set your CD drive to be the first boot device (I do CD, FDD, HDD myself).  Is you CD/DVD drive Secondary Master presently?  I little voice in the back of my head says it needs to be before booting will work.  Could be wrong on that though.

I've had a few drives that in order to boot a disc, I had to time putting the disc in so that the initial spin up would end just before I hit enter or whatever to tell it to try and boot.
IBKCKNURASS
Corrosion Inhibitor
+172|7023
I didnt read all the crap above so i dont know if u tried this or someone mentioned it.
but if you drive is sata and u dont have an option for sata/raid set ur boot sequence for scsi.
Skruples
Mod Incarnate
+234|6987
I'm not sure if someone else has mentioned this, but a computer with no OS will not boot, period. The bios is not designed to do anything but make the components themselves run; its the operating system that does the rest. If you cannot even get your windows cd to boot correctly, then you're in serious trouble, but as far as getting a disk boot error with nothing installed, thats nothing to worry about.

So, step one is to open your bios, go to the boot section, and make your cd/dvd drive the primary boot device. Then, stick your windows cd in and let fly.
Stealth42o
She looked 18 to me officer
+175|6958
THis happens to me from time to time even with the bios set correctly.  I fix it by hitting f12 at post (Setup Boot) or something like that.

Then click my primary HD and away she goes.
Stealth42o
She looked 18 to me officer
+175|6958
Just checked.  It's F11 or Boot menu.  Also make sure in Bios your boot sequence has your primary HD first.
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