Win 95 - ERROR invalid system disk error replace disk

[officework13]

I have the following problem when I turn on the computer I get the following occurs.

There is a blue screen at the top of the page before the error providing the system information.
CPU/Clk Pentium/133Mhz
Math Coprocessor installed
IDE drive 0 1548MB
IDE drive 1 none
IDE drive 2 none
IDE drive 3 CD Rom
Disk drive A 1.44MB 3.5”
Disk drive B none
ECC/Parity mode disabled
Base memory 640Kb
Extended memory 48128Mb
Shadow ram 384kb
Internal cache 16kb enabled
External cache 256kb enabled
Serial ports 3F8h, 2F8h
Parallel Ports 378h
Pointing device installed

Then the error appears.

ERROR: Invalid System Disk – Replace the disk, and then press any key.

I have checked the drives and there is no disk in the floppy or CD ROM.

I have tried to reinstall Windows 95 and have also tried to reboot using 95a & 95b and I still get the same errors.

Nothing happens when I put a disk in the drive and restart the computer and if I press a key the error keeps on repeating itself.

I do not understand dos very well so if there are steps that I should follow I would appreciate if you could provide me with the syntax or special keys that I should use to reboot my system.

I do not care if I loose all the information on my computer (nothing important)

I have 2 different CD ROMS for the computer Win95 companion CD and Win95 Upgrade CD. I think the Win95 companion CD came with the computer.

If you need any further information please ask. The computer is an ACER Aspire.

Thanks.

 

[wolluf]

Have you got a Win95 or Win98 boot floppy? You can download one from

http://www.bootdisk.com

or create one from add/remove programs icon in Win95 or 98. Try to boot the PC from the boot floppy. If it boots to an A: prompt, type C: then press enter, then type dir and press enter again. You should have a list of files and folders. If you have then it sounds like something has gone wrong with the boot process (you didn't mention when it was last working, anything that's changed/happened since then). If it won't boot from the floppy, your boot sequence may be wrong or the floppy drive may be defective (the boot sequence is the list of devices the bios looks at to boot the computer from. Commonly the first is A: (floppy), second is C: (1st hard drive/partition). You will need to access the bios settings to check/correct this. When PC starts booting it may have a message like "To enter setup, press CTRL_ALT_ESC" (from Acer website) - so hit Ctrl+Alt+Del keys to get into bios settings. Somewhere in there it should give you the order of devices it boots from. If its NOT A (Floppy) first, C (hard drive) second, change it to be so, and try booting again.
This is becoming a major tome - so I'll stop there. If no use, please post back, there are lots of other possibilities/things to try.

 

[edfair]

Sounds like the boot sequence is set up to something that has problems.
Like c: and cd rom.
Or you have a bad hard drive and a bad floppy.
You want to check and get it so removable device a: is first in the boot string. Then work on it as a boot floppy error. Once you have boot floppy working you can start on the hard drive error. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[officework13]

wolluf
i have tried that but that did not work. When i hit ctrl alt del the system restarts and when i hit ctrl alt esc the error just repeatls itself. I have tried to put in the floppy disk and restarted the cpu and the same thing happens. is there an easy way to tell if the floppy or the hard drive are gone. i was not doing anything different when the system crashed. (no new programs or anything)

 

[wolluf]

On the Acer site it did say to keep entering the Ctrl+Alt+Esc combination continually during the boot process to ensure it gets 'picked up'. So, I'd try again.
(by the way, does it say "To enter setup, press CTRL_ALT_ESC" during boot up. I know I got this off Acer website but there were a number of Aspires - so yours could use a different method of access bios, eg Del key, F1, F2 etc).
If you've access to another PC, you could install the floppy & hard drives there to check if they're working.