Non system disk error - no disk

The hard drive is either not being detected by the BIOS, or is not set up as a bootable system disk.

If the system used to work, it is possible that a virus has wiped out the boot sector.

If this is a new built system, or a new master hard drive, you need to partition and format the hard drive before you can use it.

Boot from a boot floppy (for your OS). Make sure that the write protect is set on the floppy.
Run fdisk, and see what it reports for the partions on the hard drive.
If there are no drives/partitions defined, the master boot record is gone.

For a new drive, create a primary dos partition, and an extended dos partition if desired. The are some good hints on drive partitioning stratagy at www.aumha.org

For an old drive, exit fdisk, restart fdisk with the mbr switch; fdisk/mbr
With any luck, you will recover the mbr, and be able to access your data.

If the drive is already partitioned, exit fdisk.
Type dir c: (then hit enter)
There should be files listed such as command.com and a few others depending on your OS.
If there are no files or folders listed, the drive is clean / empty. You will need to install your OS.

If there are files and folders, but the drive doesn't boot, from the A: promt,type sys c: (enter) This will make the C drive bootable.
Remove the floppy and re-boot.
If your system recovers and boots properly, run a virus scan, and back up all critical data.
If it boots, but doesn't load the OS, boot again from the floppy,and re-install your OS.
Again, scan for viruses, and back up data.

Also check (in fdisk) that the primary partition is set Active (there will be an A under STATUS). If the disk has more than one partition some people forget to set the primary partition Active when partitioning.

If you're getting "Non system disk" error without having a floppy in the drive, it could be as simple as reseating or replacing the ribbon cable to your floppy drive. Aminor nick in the cable or a cable slighltly out of place can be very annoying. Also, at the price of floppy drives you could try a new or alternate drive unit. Good luck.

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