[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] NO ROM BASIC, SYSTEM HALTED

emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) (07/30/90)

In article <1433@kielo.uta.fi>, mark@vehka.uta.fi (Marko Jauhiainen) writes:
> 
> 	I had two ST-138 32 Mb harddisks in my Express (286 machine), and
> I removed the other one. I managed to boot it from a floppy disk but when
> I tried to boot it from the hard disk it simply said 'NO ROM BASIC, SYSTEM
> HALTED'. I thought that I got my cables mixed so I checked them and now it
> won't even boot from a floppy anymore  [...]

You probably haven't modified your system's CMOS ram to show that you now
have only one drive, or possibly you've removed the bootable one.
The error message is totally misleading.
Consult the manual for 'Configuring the system', this normally involves 
holding down Alt-S, Ins, or Del during power-up and ramtest. The floppy
problem is a separate issue, re-check your cables.

> 	Another question: if I have a fixed disk (32 Mb) with 2 (16 Mb)
> partitions, is it possible to format (high-level) just one partition without
> 

Careful! 
The safest way is to just erase everything from the partition, but you
can also use some drive configuration software to redefine the partition,
but I cannot guarantee that the other partition(s) will remain intact.
(Why reformat it?).
Note also, that if you define a non-standard partition, you will probably
have to load a driver for it in your config.sys file.
In any event, the standard advice is applicable :
BACK UP EVERYTHING FIRST!
        ^^^^^^^^^^

Dave E.