Windows - no disk error message help please

happyhero

Hi can anybody help me please, I keep getting this message every time I boot my PC,

WINDOWS - No Disk

There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive.

I have read loads about it on the net but cant seem to get a clear cure. It varies where people get it and how often but mine is every time I boot up and once it comes up you cant do anything until you accept the message by clicking continue.

I recently uninstalled Norton Internet Security which actually uninstalled quite well despite what you hear but then this message started coming up, so I think it may be related.

I have played about with msconfig but cant pin it down and I cannot find any stray Norton bits in the startup bit of msconfig.

Anyone any ideas please, I'm pulling my hair out by now and I can't afford to?

Little_John

At what point is the message comming up?
before it gets in to windows
or
after windows has loaded and you have a mouse to play with?

If it is the first then it sounds like a disk failure, the 2nd option it sounds like a software change has taken place and it requires a disk to finish an installation the hard part is knowing whihc disk it wants only the people using the pc will know what software has been installed or uninstalled.

you could have a look at the registry and see if there is anything entered in the run once key. editing the registry can be dangerous so leave the delete key alone
click start, run type regedit. navigate by clicking the + signs next to each of these I tell you
HKey local machine
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
RunOnce
see what is in there, let us know maybe we can find out what disk it is asking for.

you can also repeat the same path but start in HKEY current user again see if there is anything in there.

thomas01155

maybe its trying to boot from disk in the bios change the bios so it boots from the hd.
Computer Model BIOS Keys
Acer® F1, F2, CTRL+ALT+ESC
AST® CTRL+ALT+ESC, CTRL+ALT+DEL
Compaq® 8700 F10
CompUSA® DEL
Cybermax® ESC
Dell® 400 F3, F1
Dell Dimension® F2 or DEL
Dell Inspiron® F2
Dell Latitude Fn+F1 (while booted)
Dell Latitude F2 (on boot)
Dell Optiplex DEL
Dell Optiplex F2
Dell Precision™ F2
eMachine™ DEL
Gateway® 2000 1440 F1
Gateway 2000 Solo™ F2
HP®(Hewlett-Packard) F1, F2
IBM® F1
IBM E-pro Laptop F2
IBM PS/2® CTRL+ALT+INS after CTRL+ALT+DEL
IBM Thinkpad® (newer) Windows: Start | Programs | Thinkpad CFG.
Intel® Tangent DEL
Micron™ F1, F2, or DEL
Packard Bell® F1, F2, DEL
Sony® VIAO F2, F2
Tiger DEL
Toshiba® 335 CDS ESC
Toshiba Protege ESC
Toshiba Satellite 205 CDS F1
Toshiba Tecra F1 or ESC

happyhero

Little_John wrote:

At what point is the message comming up?
before it gets in to windows
or
after windows has loaded and you have a mouse to play with?

If it is the first then it sounds like a disk failure, the 2nd option it sounds like a software change has taken place and it requires a disk to finish an installation the hard part is knowing whihc disk it wants only the people using the pc will know what software has been installed or uninstalled.

you could have a look at the registry and see if there is anything entered in the run once key. editing the registry can be dangerous so leave the delete key alone
click start, run type regedit. navigate by clicking the + signs next to each of these I tell you
HKey local machine
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
RunOnce
see what is in there, let us know maybe we can find out what disk it is asking for.

you can also repeat the same path but start in HKEY current user again see if there is anything in there.

Hi, the message comes up pretty near the end but not far enough that I can use internet or email, mouse working though.

I am fairly ok with working in registry when guided by something or someone and have done as you say, local machine looks like a blank ie, (default) reg_sz and under data, value not set and current user the same.

Just a thought, is there a way I could boot up step by step once Windows is open so that I could see what brings the message up?

albertross_2

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/Autoruns.mspx

is a safer way of altering startup items

happyhero

albertross wrote:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/Autoruns.mspx

is a safer way of altering startup items

Looks good but complicated, is it?

Is it easy to use to work on my problem?

albertross_2

it lists everything that runs at startup, but you have to be careful you don't disable an important service.

you could try going into task manager, note down the running processes, then click the ok on the faulty dialogue, and see if one of the processes vanishes.

Chippy_Minton

See http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/11/29/497983.aspx for a couple of possible solutions. Not necessarily anything to do with a HP computer or Media Centre Edition, as one poster said one of the solutions worked for them.

happyhero

albertross wrote:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/Autoruns.mspx

is a safer way of altering startup items

I have downloaded autoruns and got it running but I need some help with how to use it if possible please, to locate my problem.

albertross_2

It's going to be trial and error, but if you do file, save as, and save a log into a text file, and post it here, something may stand out.

happyhero

Hi albertross it enormous, in fact it wont let me post it all in one go. Should I be in the Everything tab or doesn't that make any difference and is there any other way to cut it down if you dont need it all, without getting too complicated.