Hi, yesterday I had a perfectly fine pc til my son got on it, he was playing a game, it froze so he pushed the reset button. Now all I can get is failed systen disk, replace disk and press any key. There are no disks inserted. I`ve tried booting from W98 cd and an emergency floppy but still the same message. I cant get into safe mode or anything. Cant anybody help please or is it past it?
Thanks in advance.

Welcome Deb:
Are you sure the floppy is bootable?

Do you have a Windows Starup Disk?
If not, ask a friend with a PC to make a Windows startup Disk for you.

If the disk you have is bootable or a starup disk or you get a start up disk from a friend and this still happens;

You will have to change the boot order in the bios.
Please bost back and let us know.

Hi, yes it was a windows start up disk, I found it on the net, but I also made one from from sisters working computer but the same thing happens. How do I change the boot order from the bios?
Thanks

Shut the comp. off put the boot disk in start comp. hold the CTRL key while starting see if that helps

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What have I gotten my self Into now (ROFLMAO)

Tried that one still dont work but thANK YOU. I have managed to get it to boot from w98 cd now, I tried boot with cd support but when I get to a promp, no command works. I`m now trying to reinstall from cd and its been fixing errors in scan disk for last 2 hours!!!!! I`m about to give up and throw the bloody thingout the window. Anyone got anymore ideas?

Yes, I have an idea,
Tell me which window you will throw it out of so I can catch it and take it home http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif
Seriously, when the comp is starting up, you should see a note that says "Hit Del to enter setup" or some other key or combonation of keys. (F10, F12, Ctrl+F2...etc).
Restart comp and right after RAM count hit those keys. In BIOS, find where it shows your Boot sequence and make sure it starts with A:. Your bootdisk should work correctly after that.
Further reading of your last post; What prompt are you at, and what commands are you trying?

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If I tell you to think for yourself, then you're not doing it.
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This is not directed at those asking questions in order to gain knowledge. That shows you are thinking.

The front room window, are you ready? lol
OK I got it figured finally, had to set bios to boot from cd rom and reinstall windows, took me all afternoon and half the evening to fix a multitude of errors shown in scan disk, god only knows what that kid of mine did!
Why cant I get it to boot from the boot up disk though?? Think i`ll leave that til another day, I`m sick of tinkering for one day!
Thanks for all the help.

In BIOS your boot sequence should bet set to A/C/CDROM or A/C/SCSI to be able to boot to the start up disk. DIfferent machines have different options, but one that puts the A drive first is what you want if you need to use a boot disk. That makes it look on the floppy drive (A) first for a boot record.

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As much as like to blame my kids whenever anything in the house is broken, I think the verdict should be NOT guilty. Based on what you said during the re-install, you may have a problem with your hard drive. Find who the manufacturer is and go their web site. They all have diagnostic software that will test the drive. You will still need to follow the above instructions to boot from a floppy. If the drive has errors and is under warranty the will send you a new one. If it is not under warranty, get a new one.

And one more thing,

There are only 2 kinds of computer users.

Those that have experienced hard disk failure
and
Those that are going to!!!!!!

That means:

-->>BACKUP <<---->>BACKUP <<---->>BACKUP <<---->>BACKUP <<---->>BACKUP <<--