media test failure, cable unplugged message on startup

[hmunster123]

I keep getting this message on startup, also youtube and hulu freeze when I play videos, also can't use my VLC player, video lan player, it's scrambled though I do hear the sound ok, audio is fine. I did some research and all I found was that I might have a bad hard drive. Any advice?

 

[rclarke250]

Most likely you have a bad cable, replace it. As for scrambled video in VLC, I've had that before, and it was an incompatible file format. xvid player would play ok, but no sound. Had to download an AC3 plugin, and then it worked ok on xvid.

 

[hmunster123]

Which cable am I replacing?

 

[goombawaho]

The CAT5/CAT6 cable from your computer's network card to your hub/switch/router.

I did some research and all I found was that I might have a bad hard drive.

What research? You can test the hard drive with the manufacturer's test utility and that should be definitive, but do the above first.

 

[rclarke250]

You are on wireless, ignore the error pop up as it just pertains to the wired lan.

 

[hmunster123]

Sorry but none of this helped, I tried another cable, I also used Xvid, no luck.

 

[hmunster123]

I'm using a wireless usb there is no ethernet cable

 

[goombawaho]

Ok, that would have been good to know in the first post. If using wireless - no WIRE to replace!! So funny. So what message are you getting upon startup?? That would be huge to know, but I think I know what it says.

The machine is trying to boot from the built-in network card and failing. So, either that is higher up in the boot order than the hard drive OR the hard drive is starting to fail and thus it's trying to boot from the network card AFTER it has failed trying to boot from the hard drive.

Did you test the hard drive as suggested? If not, get the Ultimate Boot CD which has most of the ones you need.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

(down the page where it says "mirror sites"). Download, burn image to CD, boot from CD, run HDD diag for your brand.

If this is beyond you, you'll need a geek(ier) friend or a professional.

 

[goombawaho]

Never mind - subject IS error message. Proceed as I mentioned.

You can and should move the PXE boot (booting off network card) down in the boot order or disable it entirely in the BIOS. This will prevent you having to wait for it to fail booting off the network card before it goes to the hard drive. This is only a FIX if the HDD is okay.

 

[hmunster123]

Can you please give me detailed instructions about disabling the pxe boot. Thanks.

 

[goombawaho]

I'm worried that you may not be skilled enough to be fooling around with BIOS settings.... but:

Be careful what you touch and save changes before exiting or discard changes if you're unsure.

It's in a different location in each BIOS, but look in the Boot Order or Boot Priority menu. Usually you can select/deselect items (network card) as a bootable device AND/OR move them down in the order.

You may also be able to separately disable the PXE feature under the network card which would be under Onboard devices. If you give exact brand/model, it would be easier.