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Hard drive boot error... BIOS problem?

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by wikid_one

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I recently had a problem with a computer in which XP Pro gave a random BSOD and then rebooted. Eventually the drive stopped booting and gave a "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" error. I booted up my XP CD and ran "fixboot" and "fixmbr" from recovery console. This took care of the problem and I could boot into Windows again. As soon as I shut the computer down, the problem returned. The only difference is that BIOS was taking forever to detect the disks. It literally took 2-3 minutes to detect the IDE drives. The computer was getting old anyways, so I just decided to replace it. I bought new everything and put the system together about 4 months ago.

The other day the exact same thing started happening on this new computer. The BIOS is taking forever and it gives the same error trying to load from the hard drive. The motherboard is a Biostar TForce 550, and the hard drive is a 40GB Western Digital. The hard drive is the only IDE device in this computer. The DVD drive is SATA.

5 replies

by nicknielsen

The symptoms you describe are consistent with an impending hard drive failure. If you have not backed up your data, do so now.

You post implies that you swapped the old hard drive into the new PC. Have you run the WD diagnostics on the 40 MB hard drive? If not, download them from http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287#wdc, extract them onto floppies, and boot your PC using the two floppies. The diagnostic will test your hard drive and verify that it has no errors. I fully expect you will have errors.

by wikid_one

The hard drive is less than 2 weeks old. The hard drive was purchased from Newegg. I really don't think the hard drive is the problem though. I stuck it in another computer as a slave drive and it recognized it just fine. I booted into Partition Magic and checked the drive for errors and it didn't find anything.

Going off on a tangent, should I pick up a power supply tester and check that out? It just seems like more than a coincidence that this has happened to two separate computers.

by nentech

1 Cpu, chipset, Gpu temperatures. Make sure they are not getting too hot

2 Download and install the latest bios for the motherboard

3 Check the rating of the power supply. It may not be able to take the load

4 Check all the power supply connectors to the system components
You should unplug and replug them all
Swap the drive connectors for ones that were not used before

5 Make sure you have a power supply that has all the connectors needed by your motherboard

6 Remove the pci/pcix cards replace and check they are all fully inserted

7 Do the same with the memory

8 Some video cards need a lot of power. Some have a power plug that must be connected to the power supply

9 If you have more than one make or type of ram try it/them alone

10 Check your IDE cable for damage

11 Remove everything that is not needed and try the computer
If it works OK then add one thing back one at a time, test then add another

12 Check the case mounts for the motherboard and make sure there is no contact where there should not be
(Screws/posts/mounts to big, holes not center etc)

Good luck
Col

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