polo@hagar.Solbourne.COM (Dave Polakowski) (11/28/90)
Hello all ---
My XT clone has suddenly decided it doesn't want to boot from the hard
disk, and I need some help.
Monday I installed a new floppy controller and a 3 1/2 HD floppy.
The system, after that, worked fine. I was able to back up my
hard disk on the new floppy with no problems, format both low and
hi density 3 1/2s and 5 1/4s.
Tuesday I turned on the system and got the "Non-system disk..."
error message. Since then I cannot get the system to boot from
the hard disk. If I boot from floppy, I can access C: and run
programs, etc. I reinstalled the old floppy controller and still
have the problem.
It appears that there is some sort of system board problem. But did the
new floppy controller cause the problem, or is this just coincidence?
What, if anything, can I check to try and fix the problem? Or is
this one of those "take it to the shop" things? Thanks for any and
all suggestions.
--
_-^-_ | Dave Polakowski (303)678-4700
/ O O \ | Solbourne Computer, Inc.
---((((---'---U---`---))))--- | Longmont, Colorado
DAVE WAS HERE! | [polo@Solbourne.COM] cab3@engr10.uark.edu (Chad A. Bersche) (11/29/90)
polo@hagar.Solbourne.COM (Dave Polakowski) writes: >My XT clone has suddenly decided it doesn't want to boot from the hard >disk, and I need some help. >Tuesday I turned on the system and got the "Non-system disk..." >error message. Since then I cannot get the system to boot from >the hard disk. If I boot from floppy, I can access C: and run >programs, etc. I reinstalled the old floppy controller and still >have the problem. >It appears that there is some sort of system board problem. But did the >new floppy controller cause the problem, or is this just coincidence? >What, if anything, can I check to try and fix the problem? Or is >this one of those "take it to the shop" things? Thanks for any and >all suggestions. It sounds like you could have corrupted your system files somehow. Did you try SYSing the drive after you booted DOS from floppy? If not, this would be the first thing to try before "taking it in". It has happened to me before, and a simple SYS C: command did the trick. If it tells you "no room for files on destination drive" you may have to re-format the drive to get them on there. Also, you probably will want to check and make sure that COMMAND.COM is still on the hard drive. (And as always it never hurts to check for viruses too.) Hope this can get you back running again. I know the feeling myself, as I'm waiting for a new power supply. *groan* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- cab3@engr.uark.edu - Chad A. Bersche Univ. of Arkansas Fayetteville CSEG Look, would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now? - Arthur Dent -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- cab3@engr.uark.edu - Chad A. Bersche Univ. of Arkansas Fayetteville CSEG Look, would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now? - Arthur Dent
stevek@hpausla.aso.hp.com (Steve Klos) (11/29/90)
Dave Polakowski <polo@hagar.Solbourne.COM> writes in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware: > Hello all --- > My XT clone has suddenly decided it doesn't want to boot from the hard > disk, and I need some help. . . . > Tuesday I turned on the system and got the "Non-system disk..." > error message. Since then I cannot get the system to boot from > the hard disk. If I boot from floppy, I can access C: and run > programs, etc. I reinstalled the old floppy controller and still > have the problem. Dave, The last time I encountered this problem, it was my own fault. Seems I did one of those stupid things that no one does if they've had a PC for any time at all :-). What I had done was to type erase *.*. Of course when the question of 'are you sure' came up, I answered yes, I wouldn't have typed in the command unless I was sure! Well, I happend to have the C: drive as my current drive instead of the A: drive. I had erased all the files from the root directory of my C: drive (embarrassing, but true). My recovery was to use my backup (at least I had one) to recover the files in the root directory. Hope this helps, SK
polo@hagar.Solbourne.COM (Dave Polakowski) (11/30/90)
In article <cab3.659822107@engr10.uark.edu> cab3@engr10.uark.edu (Chad A. Bersche) writes: > >>My XT clone has suddenly decided it doesn't want to boot from the hard >>disk, and I need some help. > >It sounds like you could have corrupted your system files somehow. Thanks to all who responded. This turns out to have been the problem. Since I had just installed the new controller card and floppy, I assumed that the problem was with something I had done. Pure coincidence that the files got scrambled at the same time. -- _-^-_ | Dave Polakowski (303)678-4700 / O O \ | Solbourne Computer, Inc. ---((((---'---U---`---))))--- | Longmont, Colorado DAVE WAS HERE! | [polo@Solbourne.COM]