My computer won't boot up...

ID:181529
 
Apr 7 2010, 7:30 am
"DISK BOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

Whyyy? Yesterday my computer randomly froze so I held the power button down until it shut off. Then when I turned it back on, it gave me this message after "Verifying DMI Pool Data......"

Can I fix this without losing my stuff?
Apr 7 2010, 7:41 am
I think I may have had that at some point and I believe I had to reinstall my operating system. I think your files would go to windows.old but that may only work for newer os like Vista and 7. Not sure.
Apr 7 2010, 11:39 am
Make sure to remove all CD, floppy disks, and USB storage devices and try to boot again. If this still doesn't work, you OS or HDD has failed you. A tool like SpinRite is fantastic for telling you if the problem is a hardware issue or not, and possibly fixing it. If it is just a software issue reinstalling Windows will likely fix it, but be aware that reinstalling Windows will likely format your HDD and that will delete all the files stored on that drive.
Apr 8 2010, 10:12 am
In response to DisturbedSixx
Try taking the harddrive out and putting it into another computer if you need the files.
Apr 9 2010, 10:21 am
In response to Proteen
That won't work if the hard drive is dead, though.
Apr 14 2010, 12:55 pm
Kaiochao wrote:
"DISK BOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

Whyyy? Yesterday my computer randomly froze so I held the power button down until it shut off. Then when I turned it back on, it gave me this message after "Verifying DMI Pool Data......"

Can I fix this without losing my stuff?

My only experience with this has been a dead hard drive, an unplugged hard drive, or a faulty boot order, as well as, like someone said, USB drives and the like messing it up.
Apr 14 2010, 1:53 pm
In response to DivineTraveller
DivineTraveller wrote:
Kaiochao wrote:
"DISK BOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

Whyyy? Yesterday my computer randomly froze so I held the power button down until it shut off. Then when I turned it back on, it gave me this message after "Verifying DMI Pool Data......"

Can I fix this without losing my stuff?

My only experience with this has been a dead hard drive, an unplugged hard drive, or a faulty boot order, as well as, like someone said, USB drives and the like messing it up.

^ The above are likely. Potentially your hard drive cable could be bad/broken. Your motherboard's hard drive ports could also be bad.

Yet another thing to consider here is your hard drive may not be enabled in the BIOS.

When the computer is first starting open your BIOS (typically done by pressing delete at the black screen)

There should be a section called General Settings, General Information, Drive Information, or something to this effect. Inside it will list all of your attached drives (hard drives and disk drives included)
Make sure your hard drive is there and enabled.

Expanding on your boot order potentially being incorrect:
Still in your BIOS go to Boot Options or Boot Priorities or Advanced Options / Boot Settings, depending on your motherboard. From there make sure that your hard drive is in fact listed, and not lower than anything like 'network boot' or anything to that effect.


Assuming your drive is kaput it is still possible to recover data from it, it is simply a question of how difficult it will be.