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disabled boot from HDD and Floppy

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5 replies

by gammaw

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Instead of changing the boot sequence in order to reformat a computer, I DISABLED booting from HDD or Floppy. Now I can't get back into the bios to re-enable and change sequence. I only get an option to "press any key to boot from CD", which launches me back into installing Windows. If the CD isn't in the computer, I get the message, "Boot failure: system halted" I can't get into setup by pressing a key because we're back around to booting from CD..."

I can't even get to a C prompt to try any commands.

Do I have myself in a pickle?

5 replies

by thechas

Sounds like you got into a quiet or silent boot mode.

On some motherboards, there is a jumper that needs to be set to get out of this mode and enable BIOS setting access.

Otherwise, just reset the CMOS.
Move the jumper and boot up.
Shut down and move the jumper back.

Chas

by vryce

There is also the old standby of resetting the BIOS by removing the motherboard battery. Make sure you unplug the computer too, and leave it off for a couple minuted to drain capacitors. And, of course, an obligatory warning about static. ;)

If you're running flashed BIOS, you may need to re-flash them.

Hope this helps.

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