Topic: Computer Down -- Unable to Reboot

[MamaTaz]

I am using a Compaq Presario 5465 and MS Win 2000 Professional (SP1 and SP2).  I downloaded SP3, but had not installed it.  The computer went down shortly thereafter.  The computer will not reboot.  When I turn the computer on it states "Disk Book Failure -- Insert System Disk".  I tried to reboot from boot diskettes I had made as well as the original Win 2000 Professional disk.  I also tried to repair it through the Win 2000 Professional disk.  However, the message I got was ". . . computer's
startup hard disk is new or has been erased, or that your computer is running an operating system that is incompatible with Windows 2000."  I had McAfee Virus Scan 6.02 installed and it was updated on a regular basis.  I was able to get to the Recovery Console; however, it stated that "The path or file specified is not valid."  When I attempted to setup and reinstall Win 2000 Professional, the blue death screen appeared with 0x0000001E which apparently means a memory access violation occurred.  I am illiterate when it comes to repairs on computers.  I have searched everywhere for some information, but to no avail.  Does this mean that my hard drive is bad?  I had no problems at all with this computer until this happened.  I would appreciate any feedback. Thank
you!!!!!

[Adept]

Hi MamaTaz, Welcome to PC-Pals!

Sorry to hear of your problem. I must be quite traumatic for you  

I don't think that your hard drive has gone bad. It is more likely that your PC had just forgotten what hard drive is installed. You need to tell the PC to go and look for the drive again in a section of the computer called "BIOS settings".

The BIOS settings are normally available at boot time. Just before Windows normally boots, your PC will display a message similar to "Press F2 to change BIOS settings" (the key to press is different on different PCs). This will take you into a text screen contining a menu system of some sort. From this menu you should be able to find a option which says something like "Auto detect hard drive" which you should select.

You will then need to save the new BIOS settings via another option and hopefully after re-booting the PC evreything will be back to normal.

Please come back to us if you need further help

[MamaTaz]

Hi Sean!  Thank you for your reply!

I went to the BIOS settings (F10 on my computer) and I did not see anything about "auto detect hard drive".  The screen did show a menu, to wit:  Standard CMOS Setup, BIOS Features Setup, PNP/PCI Configuration, Integrated Peripherals, Load Setup Defaults, Password Setting, Save & Exit Setup, and Exit without saving.  Under the Standard CMOS setup it only shows: Drive A, Drive B and Floppy 3 mode support.  I looked under each section and could not locate anything about detecting the hard drive.  What to do?!  Thanks for any additional help!!

[Adept]

Hmmm....

I'm not that sure of Compaq BIOS screens as they tend to be different from the mainstream clones. I would have expected there to have been something about hard drives in the Standard CMOS setup section

I'm not really sure now. I suppose it is possible that your hard drive has failed

Hopefully someone else will be able to add to this later ...

[bat69]

I've got an old Compaq Pentium1 PC lying round somewhere, and a load of printouts about them as I had a similar problem with it. I was given the PC as it was kna ...broken.

Compaq's have a strange BIOS, (or they did) which is slightly different from other BIOSes, in that it resided on the HD, rather than in a chip. Trouble was with the one I have, the drive had been wiped  :-

I'll try and find those printouts, and get back to you if I find something .... there is definitely a HD setting in there somewhere.

[MamaTaz]

Thanks to all for your help!  I appreciate your taking the time to respond.  I will keep an eye on the posts for any other information regarding my problem.  Again thank you!!!

[bat69]

I'm having a search through the Compaq support forum site ... but its sooooo slowwwwwwww  :-

I haven't found the papers yet either, they're all in boxes since my house move and  ... erm not filed in any sensible order  :-[

[bat69]

Sorry, I've been through all my boxes now, and can't find the info I hoped I still had ... not sure whether it would have helped mind :-

Have you gone through each option in the BIOS to look for anything that might look like it refers to the HD?

[MamaTaz]

Yes and I do not find anything at all.  I am also searching Compaq help (LOL)!  Well, I do greatly appreciate your taking the time to look through everything!!!  Thanks!  I'll keep looking!

[bat69]

You're welcome Mama Taz, just wish I could find something ... its soooo frustrating  >

The fact you can access your BIOS suggests the HD is working tho ... one consolation

Will ask someone tomorrow who might know a bit more about Compaq's

[Adept]

I'm sure I have a Compaq Presario of some description lying around the office. I'll have a look tomorrow too

Give me about 14 hours MamaTaz

[MamaTaz]

Y'all are really great!  Thanks for all of your time!!  I will keep checking the posts tonight and tomorrow.  

[Clive]

We try to be the most friendly forum on the net MamaTaz.  

[Sandra]

Would'nt entering LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS reset it to auto detect mode or at least user define guys? Then it should detect the drive as it starts up again.

[DualBoy]

From the description of the problem I dont think its a bois issue. Do you have a DOS Boot disk with fdisk on it? If you did you could see if the drive is detected. Its not a matter of an active partision on the drive also because win2k setup would set that when you pick the install partition. My money is on some type of hardware issue. But would need to see the system to conclude.