Bootup Win2000 Pro

I am unable to boot up the computer I can't get into safe mode or into the BIOS all it does is cycle to the Message " insert disk in A drive " when I do that nothing happens it just comes up with the same message also it says to press {Home} to boot from hard disk again nothing just goes back to A drive . I noticed that when I pause the boot up I read that there is no information for the "C" drive . I tried the Win 2000 installation disk and it loads the various files until it says there is no hard disk on the system what can I do to get into the BIOS to see whats there on the bootup sequence I am at my wits end any help would be appreciated thanking you in advance.
Willy

 

Bootup win 2000 Pro

I forgot to metion that I checked the connections on the actual HD and every thing seems to be seated ok thanks you

 

When the BIOS starts to post hit the Del key (or on some BIOS's may be F1) at least every second till you enter BIOS. Should be after the 2nd BIOS screen that it will go into setup.

When in BIOS you'll need to check that the drive has been detected. May need to change the detection to Auto as well if there is a problem. Might be a faulty drive if it's not detected. But if it's not there I would replace the IDE cable first, then swap to the second IDE port incase of a blown IDE port.

Whilst in the BIOS might be worth selecting default CMOS settings till you get on top of the problem, and check the CMOS battery!

 

Bootup Win 2000

Thank you Paul I tried to get into the Bios with no success it just keeps going till message " Boot Failure "
Insert BOOT Diskette in A:
Press any key when ready.
Nothing Happens I just get back to above message.
On the boot sequence this message appears,
Searching for boot record from floppy... Not Found
" " " " " : CDROM... Not Found
" " " " " " SCSI .......Not Found
" " " " : " Network... OK.
What does this mean ?
BTW I unpluged the power to the hard drive then booted up again same message I then plugged in the power again hoping the OS would recognize the HD no luck.
thanks for your help Paul and everyone else on this BBS you are very helpful .
I will remove the battery tommorw and get a new one see if that helps

Willy

 

If none of Tony's BIOS access points work, you may indeed have a crook HD, or boot configuration problem. I had a problem a few months ago with my new Gigabyte/2.8/SATA setup where there was a problem with the HD, and therefore I couldn't enter BIOS till it was happy with the HD! Not very usefull for diagnostics IMHO.
So an option may have to be to borrow a clean/formatted or new drive to see if this is also your problem.

 

Bootup win 2000 Pro

Thank you Paul and every body that took time to reply I really appreciate the help given to the newbies I installed a new HD and every thing went well Installed Win 2000 Pro and Im back on the keyboard however another small problem reared its head (what else) the A drive light stays on but when I insert a disk it says " insert disk in A I do a trouble shoot and it says the device is working properly I have checked the connections and they are ok its really not worth the effort to track down the fault when A Drives are so cheap but I thought I would pass this along to see if anybody else has had this problem again thanks to you all for your replies they were most helpful BTW I was surprised at how cheap HD are less than a $ a GIG Cheers

 

Hi.
Light on all the time might be a sign of upside-down flat cable connection on your FD. Try to swap the cable.
Good luck.

 

Bootup Win 2000 Pro

Sorinso, thanks that was the problem I can say now the computer is OK thanks to you and others that took time out to help I sure get a lot of help from the group again many thanks.