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Insert System Disk, press any key to continue

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by drmont

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I recently formatted my hdd on another computer as an external drive. When I place the hdd back in the original computer, I get the Insert system disk message. I have tried: a)formatted as NTFS and active drive this setup gives me a NTLDR missing error, b)formatted as NTFS without being active, c)and finally formatted NTFS and deleted the partition. I do not have the original recovery cd. I have attempted to make bootable cds with no luck. Any and all help will be appreciated.

Toshiba Satellite 1800-S207
Celeron processor
80 gb hard drive
512 mb ram

8 replies

by tony hopkinson

OS then. If you are thinking nix, try Simply Mepis it dealt with my Tosh laptop better than any other I tried.

by charliespencer

Why did you want to format the hard drive in the first place?

If you have no restore or recovery CD, you'll either have to contact Toshiba and purchase one, purchase a Windows installation DVD, or obtain a free Linux CD or DVD. If you go the Windows route, be sure you get a version compatible with your hardware.

by darryl~

http://recovery-cd.com/system/Toshiba/ToshibaSatellite/Toshiba-Satellite-1800-S204-1800-S207-XP-Download-CD-Recovery-458347.html
It doesn't include an OS though :(

These people sell a recovery "set" for about $30....you might want to contact them to see if it includes an OS.
http://www.digitalmedia-labs.com/ToshibaRecoveryCD_Satellite_OlderModels).html

by drmont

I bought a recovery cd no luck. What I am trying to do is restore my OS. I have tried to install Windows XP Pro the original OS from a cd that I have for my desktop. I tried to install Ubuntu 9.10 with no luck as well. I have tried to flash the bios with no luck. When I press the F12 key during start up, it ask what device you would like to boot from. The only options are CD rom, Floppy, Internal HDD, and original system set up. There is no real bios page where I can make changes. Thank you all for your answers so far.

by nicknielsen

If you have a bootable CD-ROM, you should be able to select it from the Boot Select screen. If the laptop won't boot to multiple CDs, you probably have a bad CD-ROM drive.

by seanferd

That's boot options, not setup. Find out which key. F2? Esc, then F1 at prompt? OK, I looked it up, it's the latter option. You're lucky you don't have a 5xxx-series.

by drmont

I used a combination of all the above mentioned solutions. It turns out that I had a bad cd/rw dvd rom drive. The most helpful solutions was the ESC key followed by the F1 key. which allow me access to the computer. Thank you for all of your help.

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