Bad Boot Disk Please insert system disk and press enter

Hi
Can anyone tell me what i'm to do next.
I have just rebooted the computer (OS98SE) and on booting it comes up with the message
BAD BOOT DISK, PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.
When I put the boot floppy in i get the three options
Start windows setup
start windows with cd support
start windows without cd support
I dont want to reformat so i guess that counts out windows setup
on with cd support i come to an A: prompt and not sure what to put here same goes for without support.
I cant even get into safe mode.
Any help appreciated
Stitch

 

Hi stitch,

The hdd won't boot, right? If the floppy is a startup disk I suggest you run, at the a:> prompt:
fdisk /mbr
note the space after the "k ".
Then remove the floppy and reboot (ctrl-alt-del).
It will try to boot from hdd, either into windows or DOS (C:> ). If you still get the error, reboot from the floppy and at the a:> do dir c:/w . That should tell you if you can see the c: drive. If you have more than one drive, do the same for each.

If you have come this far, this is a crossroads. If you can't see the drive(s), You will have to find out if you can salvage them. Run fdisk (no parameter) and from the menu choose to just examine. If fdisk can't see the drive, the last resort is to inter the BIOS setup program (usually press DEL while booting), and see if the bios can see the HDD. That's on the first or second page - read the instructions carefully.

That's quite a bit to swallow all at once unless you've done it before. Maybe at that point you should get back to us.

 

You might want to try a [scanreg /restore] from that A prompt before you go too much further.

 

Thanks
I will give your anwers a go on monday when i get back to work. Thanks for replying so quickly
Stitch

 

Work computer? What OS?

Stitch,

My previous reply referred to your computer with 98 on it. Your last post indicated you're talking about a work computer, and if that's got an os other than 95-98(se) on it, you can try the fdisk, but I would suggest you go right to the bios and see if the bios can see the drive. Let us know.

 

Sparrow
We run 98se on all the computers except mine which is xp. I will give the fdisk /mbr a go tomorrow
Thanks
Stitch

 

Practice and explanation?

Stitch,

Format a floppy in any computer - without the OS - and leave it in the drive and restart the computer. You will see that "Bad Boot Disk Please insert system disk and press enter" is not a windows message, but a BIOS message.

Now replace the disk with your setup disk (with the os on it) and hit enter. After it boots, replace it (don't reboot) with the other floppy (w/o an OS) and do at the A:> prompt:
dir/w
and you will see that the os can see the disk.

Then replace the disk with an unformated disk (don't reboot) and do at the A:> prompt:
dir/w
to see what a bad disk shows.

A floppy is much simpler than a hard disk but this is the general principal of what we're after.

 

Hi All
I booted the computer up on monday morning and it booted fine right to the desk top. It was like there had been nothing wrong at all I have made a note of what you have all said so that if it happens again i will do as you say.. One thing i will say though is that the Bios could see the HD just fine. When the first bad disk message came up i rebooted and went into the bios to see if there was anything there that was out of the ordinary. I checked it against the comp sitting next to it as they are exactly the same except for a program or two.. Nothing jumped out at me so your guess is as good as mine there.
Stitch
ps thanks for help anyway. im sure i will be back again.

 

That's what makes computers interesting!

BTW, you waited too long to try our suggestions, depriving us of the credit, for something, that we didn't deserve.