non-system disk-press any key to continue

Hi,
I am about to assist someone who has Windows/Me with a non-system disk error message. I beleive the problem began when they tried installing AOL instant messenger (atleast that's what they tell me).

The error message I am familiar with but the steps to correct the problem I am not as lucky with. I have come across two methods and wanted to inquire here if they are the way to do so ?

Method #1: Put a startup diskette in, after it loads up/boots up, type the following without the quoates "sys c:" and remove the diskette. Then press ctrl-alt-del and hope for the best.

method #2: Microsoft article #824654 says to press and hold down the command key and on the control menu click windowed mode. Press and hold down the control key, point to the floppy icon at the lower left side and the click Unmount Image.

Any suggestions or corrective measures in the steps I have outlined above will be greatly appreciated...Thank You

 

Hi Master Green

First make sure there's not a disk in the floppy drive.

This has to be done with a Win ME boot disk.
At the a:\> prompt type sys c: press Enter not ctrl-alt-del.
This will transfer basic system files from the diskette to c:
after files are transfered remove the diskette and press ctrl-alt-del
to restart the computer.

Method #2 only applies to Macintosh computers.

Also check that the IDE cables are plugged in good.

 

Hi,
Thank you for the quick reply, and in answer to the disk in the drive was the first question I asked and that was not the problem.

As for the correct steps, I have a Windows/Me computer myself and was going to use the startup disk I have and hope all goes well but was not so sure on the steps to follow. You have cleared that up for me and for that I am grateful.

I will be working on the computer this afternoon and will report back with an updated post on how well everything went later this evening. Thanks again.

 

Hi,
Update...I went to work on the computer and much to my surprise, within seconds of sitting down in front of the computer I noticed a diskette in the floppy drive. Once I removed it, the computer booted up just fine. Even after asking the question and being told no, then to sit down and see it was, is just a bit annoying. Anyways, the correct steps will come in handy at some point I'm sure and thank you again...Case closed...

 

Oh MY !!. How familliar that reads.

My boot sequence is Floppy-CDROM-HD.

I was cussing my machine out quite well when I noticed the CDROM light was blinking.

You know the rest.

I was 400 miles away from home one time when I got a call in regrads to the error message you had. My FIRST ORDER ( not suggestion ) was to take the floppy out or the CD out of the CDROM. I was told there was none there. Again I said try the other CDROM.

Problem solved.

BillyBob

 

Glad thats all it was.
Nice to see I,m not the only one
that has made that mistake.

 

Hi,
I had to travel approx 70 miles to find out that the very same question I asked was right there before me. It was my ex-wife's computer and that brought back memories. It's too bad the ctrl-alt-del only works on computers.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the proper command "sys a: c: ", without the quotes?

Sounds like the problem was intentional. LOL!

 

You could be either one.

If you boot from the floppy "SYS C:" would work.

If you could boot from the HD I do not think you would be needing the SYS command any way.

Also something else that may need to be thought of.

If you do boot to the floppy it might be a good idea to make sure the version of boot files on the floppy ARE THE SAME as the ones on the HD.

But all the SYS C: will do any way is make the HD bootable. I do not believe it would do a thing toward recovering a lost OS. Would it ?

For example:
I have XP Pro on here. If I did a SYS from my 98SE boot disk I believe that I would ( or might be ) in BIG trouble.

Am I thinking correctly ?

BillyBob

PS.
While waiting for a reply I will do come file comparing.

BB

 

I was under the impression that the sys command was comparable to copy in that it transfers the bootable files. If you leave out the a:, what gets transferred?

Not to my knowledge. As you said, it merely makes the drive bootable.

If you are using the NTFS file system, I don't think you would even be able to boot to a 98 startup disk. If FAT32, you might be able to, and it probably would be big trouble to SYS. Can't say for sure though, as I've never tried it.

 

I had the samething happen to me. I had to go for a 1 hr (1/2 there, 1/2 hr back) drive to one of our other offices only to find that the Floppy Disk that was not supposed ( "I swear there's not a disk" I was told) in the drive was in the drive.

Oh well it was was a nice break in the day and a nice day to drive.

 

Some legitiment questions here.

If you booted to the A: drive in the first place the A: is already there. Is it not ? I have not done a SYS for so long that I have just plain FORGOTTEN

Again, if you were able to boot the the HD WHY would you even need to think of doing an SYS ?

Even with an NTFS why would you not be able to boot to the floppy if the boot sequence it A:, CDROM, C: ? As far as I know booting to the floppy has nothing to do with the file system that is on the HD. It never gets to the HD if you have A: as the first boot device.

But anyway. MY point is:

"If do do have to do a SYS, BESURE you have the proper version of DOS on the A: drive." 95 and 98 have different versions of DOS. ( I believe ) and you get them crossed up and you can be in trouble. I am not sure which version of DOS ME has.

But no matter which version of Windows you have, you should have a Startup disk that matches. 95, 98, & ME only have one disk. I just looked and XP Pro has 6 ( six ).

I am not sure about XP ( and hope I never find out ) but if I had ( and I did have ) a 98 HD that would not boot, I would boot DIRECTLY from the SUD and do overtop re-install anyway. That would make sure that I had everything of the proper version on the HD.

BillyBob

 

Well BB, I had thought much the same way, until just two days ago. I had an NTFS drive with XP that I was using as a replacement on a 98 machine. Installed the drive, threw in the 98 bootdisk to fdisk and format, and it never would startup. Slaved the drive in my XP machine, wiped it and formatted with FAT32 in disk management and reinstalled to 98 machine. Started right up with the bootdisk. All I can say is, try starting yours with a 98 bootdisk. If I remember correctly, you still use FAT32 so it should start. Maybe someone else with NTFS will try it and verify.

 

Well, well. I am glad that I jumped into this post.

It appears that I may be learning something new.

About NTFS anyway.

Was the BIOS set to boot from the A: drive first ? If not then I can see where there would be a problem.

But you are correct in the fact that I still have Fat32.

BillyBob

 

As per the honest request by noahdfear I put my 98SE Startup Disk in the A: drive and did a Windows Restart.

It did its' thing.

Booted the machine.
Created the RAM drive and copied the files to it.
Picked up and setup the CDROM.
Picked up and Installed the Mouse and drivers for same.

Removed the disk and hit reset and I was back into XP Pro.

One other thing. I can use the same floppy in any one of my three machines. 2 with SE and this one with XP Pro. I have also used it to boot 95 machines

BillyBob

 

Of course. Anxious to see if anyone with NTFS is going to try. May only have been a glitch on the machine.

 

Well now I have seen everything...

One of our Dell Workstations got the famous "NTLDR is Missing. Press any key to restart" error msg first thing this morning. The user was explaining what the error msg was and as soon as he said NTLDR I asked him if he had a floppy disk in drive. He swore and removed the floppy.

That's not the whole story...get this...The error msg was in French. Now I'm trying to figure out why the text is in French. There is nothing in the BIOS for Laguage and the text in BIOS is English. Checked all Regional setting, just incase, and they are all English. Wierd!

Note: I'm going to create a new Post for this as I want to see if anybody else has seen this error before.