Disk Boot Failure

JesperAudi · #1 08-29-2005, 08:00 AM

Hi Folks

I've been trying to rescue an old MJN Pentium 2 266mhz, 64mb ram, W98SE
I has a Seagate drive which currently it is not recognising.

When I turn on, I get the beep, the memory test.
It does not recognise the Primary master
It detects the CRrom as secondary
It verifies the DMI pool and then
Disk Boot Failure, Insert system disk and press enter

I've tried putting the Win98 CD in the CD rom and pressing enter
Also putting a W98 start up disk in the A:

But it still comes up as Disk Boot failure

I have to say I am not sure of my IDE connectors; I think I've got the floppy right; Then I have one going to the CD rom and the 'main one' connected by its 'middle' connector going into the hard disk.

By the way, I was able to set up the Hard disk as a secondary drive on another PC and have been able to copy the contects successfully, so at some point I support I could try a format.

If I'm getting this disk boot failure what are the options?

Any ideas, thanks

Jesper

snowmonkey · #2 08-29-2005, 10:56 AM

If the drive is working in different system then it should be easy. Connect the Drive back into your system and disconnect the CD ROM, make sure it is recognized in BIOS.... boot from the Windows 98 floppy disk and on the command prompt type in fdisk /mbr then "Enter" , remove the floppy disk and reboot the system, if your hard drive should be boo table now... I forgot to say, make sure your hard drive's jumper is set for Master.

Cheers

s7p9a2m4 · #3 08-29-2005, 12:35 PM

To add to what snowmonkey said.

The motherboard battery could be dead causing the bios to lose its settings and not recognizing the drive.

http://members.cox.net/joemurphy/Hard%20Drive%20NR.htm

JesperAudi · #4 08-29-2005, 01:50 PM

Thanks Snow Monkey, I did try that; unfortunately I only got the message NO FIXED DISKS PRESENT.

I wasn't too sure how the disk should be recognised in the BIOS;
I did notice that recognition is set to auto. But nothing was reconised during setup.

Does this mean there could now be a problem with the drive? It only worked on the other system as slave, although I was able to boot up on that disk as the D: drive.

I'm not 100% on how to set up as master.

Based on the 8 pins does, 1234top
5678bottom

Does it go on 2 and 6? And if so which way up am I looking at the disk, from the back Left to right? I have to say I have tried both!!

And does it matter which IDE cable I use to the HDD so long as it is connected to primary? I have tried it at end of sin gle cable. I also have a cable with middle and end cable, should I try this?

Anyway mant thanks for your help; I think you once helped me before

Cheers
Jesper

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowmonkey

If the drive is working in different system then it should be easy. Connect the Drive back into your system and disconnect the CD ROM, make sure it is recognized in BIOS.... boot from the Windows 98 floppy disk and on the command prompt type in fdisk /mbr then "Enter" , remove the floppy disk and reboot the system, if your hard drive should be boo table now... I forgot to say, make sure your hard drive's jumper is set for Master.

Cheers

JesperAudi · #5 08-29-2005, 01:52 PM

If the battery is dead would the time have stopped? Cos the time is still OK?

Anyway thanks for the link, I have printed that off and hopefully will find something there

Cheers

Jesper

Quote:

Originally Posted by s7p9a2m4

To add to what snowmonkey said.

The motherboard battery could be dead causing the bios to lose its settings and not recognizing the drive.

http://members.cox.net/joemurphy/Hard%20Drive%20NR.htm

snowmonkey · #6 08-30-2005, 01:55 PM

What are the spec for your hard drive:

Made ?
Model ?
Size / Capacity ?

Let me know and I'll dig out the jumper setting for you.

Cheers

JesperAudi · #7 08-30-2005, 04:26 PM

Seagate Model ST364518
Medalist Pro 6451
6448mb

Hope that is what you need; currently if you view from the top of drive looking from the cable end, I think I have set as master by having 3and7 covered.

Thanks, Jesper

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowmonkey

What are the spec for your hard drive:

Made ?
Model ?
Size / Capacity ?

Let me know and I'll dig out the jumper setting for you.

Cheers

snowmonkey · #8 08-30-2005, 07:53 PM

I could not find anything on the net for this model "ST364518" but I found a couple of 6 Gig drive from Seagate that were very close to what you have... What these two following drive jumper setting have in common is that in both cases jumper 7 & 8 have to be closed in order to set it as master and I think your 6.4 gig should be set the same way....., give it a try and let us know:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/ata/st36530a.html

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/ata/st36422a.html

Cheers

JesperAudi · #9 09-04-2005, 11:44 AM

Hi Snow Monkey

Sorry, been away for a couple of days. Many thanks for your help. I found the link very useful, but ultimately, still can't get the drive recognised.

I am beginning to think that I have done something to it since being able to read it when it was a slave in the other computer. Still at least I took a copy of it, and have that so have not lost the contents.

I shall play for a little while but am close to giving up!!

Jesper

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowmonkey

I could not find anything on the net for this model "ST364518" but I found a couple of 6 Gig drive from Seagate that were very close to what you have... What these two following drive jumper setting have in common is that in both cases jumper 7 & 8 have to be closed in order to set it as master and I think your 6.4 gig should be set the same way....., give it a try and let us know:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/ata/st36530a.html

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/ata/st36422a.html

Cheers

manostyle · #10 09-13-2005, 08:34 PM

Hello,
I just built a computer:
msi k8n neo4 nvidia nforce4 mobo
amd athlon 3500+
2*512mb corsair memory
geforce 6600gt graphics card
2 seagate hds w/ 250gb of space

i am having a serious problem. after i put the computer together and configured my raid for my hard drives, i was ready to load windows xp. so i turn on the computer and pop the cd in and it says: "disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter" What do i do????
THANKS

JimP · #11 09-14-2005, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JesperAudi

Hi Folks

I've been trying to rescue an old MJN Pentium 2 266mhz, 64mb ram, W98SE
I has a Seagate drive which currently it is not recognising.

When I turn on, I get the beep, the memory test.
It does not recognise the Primary master
It detects the CRrom as secondary
It verifies the DMI pool and then
Disk Boot Failure, Insert system disk and press enter

I've tried putting the Win98 CD in the CD rom and pressing enter
Also putting a W98 start up disk in the A:

But it still comes up as Disk Boot failure

I have to say I am not sure of my IDE connectors; I think I've got the floppy right; Then I have one going to the CD rom and the 'main one' connected by its 'middle' connector going into the hard disk.

By the way, I was able to set up the Hard disk as a secondary drive on another PC and have been able to copy the contects successfully, so at some point I support I could try a format.

If I'm getting this disk boot failure what are the options?

Any ideas, thanks

Jesper

Hi Jesper, SnowMonkey has a pretty good idea, but while you are there also type "Sys C:" . It's just as important than "Fdisk /mbr". Mbr repairs the Master Boot Record and Sys C: renews the three boot up files. Luck, Jim