Non system disk!! 1

[Guest_imported]

I reformatted the computer and the middle it said warning cant recover please remove cd and reboot..When I rebooted its saying non-system disk error replace and strike any key when ready...Someone said I would have to make a windows 98 boot disk and I tryed that still nothing..I know a little but not alot about computers..If someone can reply and tell me step by step it would be greatly appriecated thanks..

 

[Tragdor]

You should start by entering BIOS (by pressing the Delete key or maybe F2 during the startup screen where the memory test is performed) and making sure the boot order is set to A,C, SCSI. It's hard to say which menu it will be under because all machines are different. What type of machine do you have?

 

[Guest_imported]

I have hewlett packard 500 mhz

 

[SK79]

if this message occurs, it could be because:

a) your pc can't see the hard disk. When the machine switches on you'll see primary master, slave etc. Have a look to see if your hard disk is detected

b) your drive isn't formatted or the software isn't installed correctly.

If your set can see the hard drive, then I'd run windows setup again. You'll be able to boot from the Windows 98 cd.

 

[Cindy1]

The hp's boot sequence should be floppy, cdrom, hard drive because you will need to run the restore with the hp disks. If you haven't made a windows 98 boot disk you can't make one after you format it, also when you make a startup disk you need to physicaly copy the format.com file it won't be on it if you create one using the control panel, add/remove programs. I would to be on the safe side get a 98 startup disk from someone then boot to it and at the a: type fdisk then press enter. On the next screen press enter also, then when you get to the fdisk menu press option 4 to view all the partitions. Then after you see them press escape and go back to the fdisk menu and delete those partitions. Then after you delete the partitions (you probably only have one primary)hit escape back to the a: then type fdisk/mbr 3 times that will clear the master boot record. Then put your hp restore software in the cd rom drive take the floppy out and reboot the computer. It should boot to the restore software and then a blue screen will come up and ask you to prepare your hard drive then you type fdisk. It should go to 100% twice, once to create the primary partition and the other time to make it active. Then it will format it, after that you can select recover only from the hp menu and the software will extract or inflate to your hard drive.
Sorry this is so long but the process is pretty easy once it gets going. You should print this off in case you get stuck. I hope this helped you and not confused you more.
Keep us updated.

 

[Guest_imported]

Hi I tryed booting from the floppy but no luck..Also I checked the boot sequence it is correct also..Any more ideas thanks Melinda

 

[Cindy1]

I know this sounds stupid but is the floppy enabled? Do you see it trying to read? Do you get an error message or does it just hang on a black screen? You could try and clear the cmos by taking the cmos battery out for 20 sec. Sometimes there is something in your configuration that is wrong and this will reset it back to the way it was. I had a floppy problem and fixed it by clearing the cmos, or it could be the floppy.
Good Luck,
Cindy

 

[loadedmind]

For fear of missing out on the obvious, how sure are you the floppy you've made is in fact bootable? How did you go about making this Win 98 floppy? Non-system disk is usually a pretty accurate error by the computer letting you know the disk you now have in the floppy drive is not in fact a system disk, which is why I'm asking this. Try a friend's Win 98 bootable disk

 

[Guest_imported]

try going in your bios and changing the way your drive your computer boots from. with no boot up disk change boot up from cd-rom with boot up disk boot from your floppy

 

[SK79]

here's another one to try...

If you are able to boot off a floppy, try and get a copy of a windows 95 boot disk. Put the disk in and switch the set on. At the C:> prompt, type "sys c:".

This will copy the system files from the floppy to your hard disk and, providing your original operating system is still there, you might start normally...

 

[hchman]

You have gotten a lot of suggestions. I got the same error on a computer at work. What I did was to change the boot sequence to boot up from the CD rom only and put in my windows 98 CD. I restarted the computer and win 98 setup began. After checking the drive I got the message that the drive was not formatted and would I like to format it. I said yes and the drive was formatted and win98 installed. I then changed the boot sequence back to normal.