Invalid system disk error.... but there's not floppy drive.

[Koopa_Fett]

I'm having a problem with my mini-itx board. I built up the system last night and it's got a slim cdrom and 2.5" hdd. It was running fine, but I booted up today and it's giving me the "Invalid system diskk; Replace the disk, and then press any key." error, but there's no floppy drive. There's not even a floppy drive on the mobo.

Any ideas?

[james.miller]

is the floopy controller disabled in the bios?

[mdcomp]

Is it set to boot from cdrom? If it is and there is a cdrom in there that could be whats doing it. If not your hard drive might be corrupted and can't boot into windows. Check in BIOS and make sure you have it set to boot from the hard drive first. Good Luck!

[Koopa_Fett]

Where would I find that?

[o0OBruceLeeO0o]

This happened to my aunts computer. I disabled everything from booting except the HDD and I still got the error. Finally I just reformatted and its all good and fine now :)

[mdcomp]

In BIOS, in advanced BIOS Features. To access BIOS in most computers just tap deleted a few times after you turn it on.

[Koopa_Fett]

Well the BIOS was set to boot from cdrom in the beginning. So I took out the CD to see if that would do it. Same error. So earlier I set hdd to boot first. Same thing. Disconnected the cdrom completely. Same.

Guess I'll have to format it. Was running fine last night, I hope nothing happened to the hdd. Problem is I've only got the win98 upgrade cd and the only full install os I have is XP, which I don't want to install on a VIA c3 800mhz w/ 128mb pc133.

[Koopa_Fett]

Now it's also giving me

"DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

?????

[mdcomp]

Hrmmmm....sounds like your hard drive could be corrupted. Try a different hard drive. Also, try different memory.

[Maximouse]

Sounds like the data on your drive is corrupting.

There is a known bug with 98 and the faster eide drives which, when shutdown occurs, the drive does not have a chance to clear its cache which can corrupt the fat.

Next time you install 98, apply this fix and see if it helps:http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/contents/WUCritical/q273017/Default.asp

Keep in mind that this may not be your problem, but its worth a shot:)

Al

[Koopa_Fett]

Definitely a hdd problem. I disconnected both IDE cables, cleared cmos, and booted up. Looked brand new like last night. Powered down and connected the cdrom and hdd. BIOS found them both just fine but gave me the same error.

Unfortunately for me, there aren't any notebook hard drives around that are less than 20gb ($100)

[mdcomp]

Ouch. Thats a steep price, but at least you figured out the problem.

[o0OBruceLeeO0o]

Go into to DOS and just format it (type "format C:"). Then try to install Windows...

[Koopa_Fett]

I know this'll sound like a really stupid question, but how do I boot into DOS? On other boards I have, I have the option of booting into safe, debug, dos, etc. but I can't find in on the VIA. Any ideas?

[Koopa_Fett]

Ok, I had a crazy idea and decided to try it out. I burnt Mandrake 9.1 on to a cd today and popped it in and booted from the cdrom. After the step where it asks me for my mouse type, I get this message:

"Partitions in sector #63 (1.3GB) and sector #63 (1.3GB) are overlapping!"

The hdd is only 1.4gb in size...

*EDIT* Formatting the hdd seems to have fixed it. It's up and running now.

Thank for everyone's help. :)

[Zuzzz]

I would not turst that drive. As soon as possible replace it. (IMHO)