Disk boot failure - Insert system disk and press Enter

pinkpinkfizz

Hi,
I have an HP P6011uk PC. It's running windows vista and I haven't installed anything new recently but yesterday and today when I've booted up, the screen has been black with " Disk boot failure - Insert system disk and press Enter"

Yesterdays message also said something about flash drive not having op sys loaded and at the time I did have a flash drive connected to the usb, but that shouldn't have made any difference to the existing boot sequence? Today's message there was no mention of the flash drive. I press ctrl alt del and it continued to boot up fine.

Also I have a seagate Free Agent Hard drive attached as back up (constant connection) I'm a full tiem student and I got the external hard drive so I would always have an up to date back up of my files, however when I've looked at the back up file log it has
26 March 2010 07:49:15


Executing My Backup backup plan ...


Backing up to G: ...

Backup canceled

Copied 0 files, 0 bytes. Total files protected: 0

Backup completed 26 March 2010 07:49:28


*******************************************
26 March 2010 20:59:56
It also has a HUGE list of files and says skipped at the start of every line.

I realise that this may be a completely separate issue to the boot up error

What's gone wrong? and more importantly how do I fix it?
My pc is critical to my study and I have prelims in 2 weeks!! help!

Thanks in advance

gaming_guy

disconnect any usb devices (apart from mouse/keyboard if they are usb) and try booting it up again. Take out any CDs or floppy disks as well (as they might cause this error)

If it works, then you will just need to modify the boot sequence in the bios. If it doesn't then you may need to try other things like testing to see if the hard drive has failed

kwikbreaks

Well either you main hard drive has a problem or it is trying to boot from somewhere that doesn't have an operating system loaded.

The first things I'd do is unplug all USB drives, take out any CDs and if there is a floppy drive make sure there isn't a floppy in it (in days of yore when most machines had a floppy drive this was a very common trap for the unwary.

If it still fails take a look at what recovery instructions you have for the machine - newer ones have a boot partition and older ones had some sort of CD or DVD you had to use.

With any luck all you'll need to do is reinstate the boot records (probably using the windows repair option) rather than a full recovery which will lose all your personal files and programs installed.

This may or may not indicate impending total drive failure.



{SNAP}

closed

install maxblast from the seagate website, and do a full backup to external hd

pinkpinkfizz

closed wrote: »

install maxblast from the seagate website, and do a full backup to external hd

Could you explain a little more about this? Would doing this allow me to recover/reinstall my op sys in the event of my hard drive failing and requiring replaced?
Also I made a set of Master Disks, not long after I got my pc. The HP advisor programme kept prompting me to do it! My pc is only 6 months old so I'd assume all parts to be under warranty from manufacturer, the company I purchased it from has gone bust

I think I really need to learn more about my external hard drive, how it works and how I'll be able to use it to help, in the event of a catastrophe

Thanks

closed

yes , it backs up the os/data/recovery partition etc, to external hard disk, and allows you to create a bootable DVD to get it all back should windows not start, or internal hard disk fail

pinkpinkfizz

Hi,
I've bumped my post (I can't believe how much time has gone past since I posted this originally!) as I thought I had better try to get this issue resolved before my warranty runs out

So I still have this intermittent fault on boot up, so last week I called HPSupport and a technician was asking me some questions.. he got me to go into the bios settings but there was no drive showing. He asked me to take a look and check the wiring and one of the connectors was a little loose (sitting marginally lop sided) where the cable form the hard drive attaches to the mother board. I pushed it into place and put the side cover back on. Re started and back into the bios and the drive was then showing up. I was quite please that I had managed to "sort" the problem.....

... until it gave the same boot up error yesterday. I have checked the bios and the drive is not showing, and re-checked the connections and it all seems to be connected fine.

I think all this indicates a faulty hard drive or possible mother board???

Tech support is supposed to be calling me back tomorrow, what do you think the diagnosis/solution will be??

I guess it'll end up getting sent off for repair??
I'd welcome some advice, before speaking to tech support.
(meanwhile I'll busy backing up everything)

Thanks in advance,
Donna

closed

put it into a usb caddy on a different machine, that will tell you if it's hard disk, or laptop. If you plan to send it off, backup first.

Has it been dropped?

pinkpinkfizz

closed wrote: »

Has it been dropped?

Definately not been dropped.

I can't remove the drive as the pc is still under warranty, so I'm expecting HP to resolve the issue.. I just hoped I would know what to expect ( and possibly what to ask for) when the tech guy calls tomorrow?!

I'm backing up my newest files at the moment..

closed

if its working, backup the lot with disk imaging software.

pinkpinkfizz

Can you recommend a free program to do the imaging with?

Thanks