|
|
 |
|
|
Pages: 1
disk boot failure
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: jimbo
didnt know where to post this but here goes.
every once in a while, when i start my pc, a 'disk boot failier' comes up and i am forced to reboot.
does anyone know how to prevent this?
i just want to know if my pc is potentially going to bottom out on me
its not such a big deal now, i just want to be sure
any help much appreaciated
Posted by: compukeith
First, what OS is running on the hard drive? Is is Win98, XP, etc.? Next, can you boot into safe mode or even get past the BIOS POST screens?
Posted by: jimbo
ok im running xp.
i can get past the bios post screens but sometimes it gets 'stuck' right before the login screen.
it says 'boot from disk: disk boot failier' (or something along those lines) and i cant do anything else but hit the reset button on the tower
Posted by: psd#1
Well if I were u I'd start backing up all my important info. Sounds like u might have a problem with your master boot record (MBR). Once that becomes fully corrupt you won't be able to boot into XP and you'll be forced to reinstall XP.
-pSd#1
Posted by: redwench
2 obvious possibilities:
1. windows error
2. hard drive error
the first is annoying, but shouldnt be a major problem beyond what your patience can handle. the second would be the major concern.
go to your hard drive's manufacturer site and see if they have diagnostic software you can download.
Posted by: jimbo
psd#1
ok backing up will be easy.
but its only doing this very rarly
iv had my pc sinse sep/03 and sinse then ive only had it do that once
is this still cause for concern?
Posted by: BooRadley
I don't know about XP, but with older windows you could rebuild the boot sector by running
fdisk /mbr
I'm going to assume that you still can.
Also, I'd start backing up if I were you. I think you have a failing hard disk.
Posted by: jimbo
thanx red, i'll check out those diagnostics
Posted by: jimbo
booradly
my dad had this broblem too and now he is getting wierd sounds from the hard drive itself (like the heads clunking)
Posted by: jimbo
redwench
ive checked western digitals site, they have downloads for everything else but diagnostics (maybe i was looking in the wrong place)
Posted by: psd#1
Don't run fdisk /mbr
Now, on to what FDISK/MBR does...
Normally it overwrites what would be the DOS pre-bootstrap code part of the MBR, leaving the partition table and signature.
Generally though, it sounds fairly harmless, right? "Generally" it is, and that explains why on many, many machines thousands of people have ignorantly done no damage to their drives.
-pSd#1
Posted by: jimbo
thanx for the info psd, i'll stay away from that
Posted by: trekpsycho
Western Digital diagnostice tools
Posted by: BooRadley
I've had lilo corruption many times on older installs of it, and have fdsk /mbr'd quite a few times, and haven't ever had a problem. There have been a few times that it wouldn't completely clear out the lilo code, and I had to boot from floppy or use loadlin to get to linux to reinstall, then unilstall lilo, but it's never done any damage to the partition table. I've never even heard of that happening.
I don't think it would help this guy, though. I think the only thing that will help this guy is backing up his data. And I'm SURE his dad's squeeky disk needs to be backed up as soon as possible, but I've still never heard of fdisk /mbr whacking a partition table. Not unless someone did more than just /mbr and didn't realize it.
Posted by: Superfly3176
yeah watch for monkey when booting from floppy. We had some guy bring in his pc for us to fix at tech yesterday. Now four computers are infected with empire. monkey. thus dont use a floppy to boot. But with the clunking sound its sounds like a hardware problem.
Posted by: jimbo
trekpsycho
thanx for the link. ironicly thats the one place i didnt look.
now do i want to download all diagnostic things? or just the bios one?
Posted by: redwench
 Quote:
Originally posted by Superfly3176
yeah watch for monkey when booting from floppy. We had some guy bring in his pc for us to fix at tech yesterday. Now four computers are infected with empire. monkey. thus dont use a floppy to boot. But with the clunking sound its sounds like a hardware problem.
|
english, por favor
Posted by: trekpsycho
I would think either the DLG Diagnostic or the Win DLG would probably be what you need.
Posted by: BooRadley
Quote:
Originally posted by redwench
english, por favor
|
He was talking about a boot sector virus called Stoned Empire Monkey.
Posted by: redwench
yes, too bad the rest of what he said made no sense.
Posted by: psd#1
That wasn't the point. You can't run fdisk /mbr and then boot right back into the OS, you need to reisntall.... And he was trying to avoid that.
Lucky for you that you haven't had any problems with /mbr but you used it in a different situation.
-pSd#1
Posted by: castlerock
Did you install XP youself? Was there another OS on the machine before? I'd try repairing the master boot record. You'll have to boot with a startup disk, and at the C prompt type
c:\fdisk /mbr
You might have some luck with that.
Posted by: redwench
he never said he was trying to avoid a reinstall, just that he was concerned about the computer going belly up.
Posted by: jimbo
i'll only reinstall as an absolute last option.(and i mean last)
castlerock
i did install xp myself and no there wasno other os on the hd before that
Posted by: psd#1
If jimbo doesn't want to reinstall than running fdisk /mbr is not an option
-pSd#1
Posted by: jimbo
trekpsycho
i'll download both of those diagnostics just to be sure.
Posted by: redwench
if its not his drive failing, hes going to have to live with it or reinstall, no way around it.
Posted by: jimbo
i can learn to live with it.
it was just i wanted to make sure nothing was seriously wrong w/my pc, thats all.
and if i have to reinstall, i have to reinstall. i have nothing against that i just want to aviod it for as long as possible
my dad has had this problem for a long time (6-8 years) it does this sporadically tho he cant find anything wrong w/it.
it was only just recently that his drive started making noises
Posted by: redwench
older computers are quite different from modern ones. an error that was just a glitch for him, is a serious issue for you. and occasionally vice versa. although if his computer is that old, its time to retire it before it dies completely.
Posted by: jimbo
do you consider win 95 old? (thats the earliest hes had on his pc)
hes had multiple hard drives and they all had the same problem (about 3-4) and plus we just upgraded his last year.(hes had win98 for a while and 95 before that, now hes got xp)
just about the only thing that didnt get upgarded or replaced was the most recent hd.
its an up to date pc (latest everything)
Posted by: redwench
most people dont consider a new motherboard, cpu, ram, and powersupply to be upgrading. thats usually a new computer.
and yes, win95 is old.
Posted by: jimbo
ok, but hes been having this problem with xp too and now his hd is making funny noises.
do you think a hd failier is immonent and unavoidable?
Posted by: redwench
hard drives that make unusual noises usually will soon be fertilizing daisies.
Posted by: BooRadley
Yeah, those noises suggest that the disk is failing. THere's no telling how long it will take to fail, but it is on it's way.
Posted by: jimbo
the noises almost sound like the heads of the drive hitting something in the hd
well, thanx all for posting, i appreaciate all your help w/my problem here.
i guess its just wait and see now.
thanx again
-jimbo
Posted by: psd#1
In my book thats a very bad noise, I'd backup ASAP
-pSd#1
Posted by: jimbo
everythings backed up, figured something was wrong.
tho no failier yet, it will come
|
|
|
|
|
