drive not ready

What would cause the 'drive not ready/Insert BOOT diskette...' error on
bootup when the BIOS system configuration shows 'primary master : hard disk
xxMB'?

System is w98se.

Corrupt or missing boot files.
Unformatted or corrupt/damaged drive.

If it is formatted and has an OS on it:
Can you boot with a 98 boot disk and with the dir command see the contents
of the drive?

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375




"anon" wrote in message
...
What would cause the 'drive not ready/Insert BOOT diskette...' error on
bootup when the BIOS system configuration shows 'primary master : hard
disk xxMB'?

System is w98se.

"Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message
...
Corrupt or missing boot files.
Unformatted or corrupt/damaged drive.

If it is formatted and has an OS on it:
Can you boot with a 98 boot disk and with the dir command see the contents
of the drive?


**
I booted with a DOS disk and typed the command dir C: (to change to the C:
drive) - got en error - invalid drive specification.

Sounds like a dead drive even though the BIOS found it.
****

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375




"anon" wrote in message
...
What would cause the 'drive not ready/Insert BOOT diskette...' error on
bootup when the BIOS system configuration shows 'primary master : hard
disk xxMB'?

System is w98se.

At the A: prompt type:
c:\ and press Enter.
dir and press Enter.

If it shows the contents and flies by too fast type:
dir /p **The /p switch takes the screen one page at a time.

Press any key to advance a page.
To get to the end at any time press CTRL+C.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375




"anon" wrote in message
...

"Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message
...
Corrupt or missing boot files.
Unformatted or corrupt/damaged drive.

If it is formatted and has an OS on it:
Can you boot with a 98 boot disk and with the dir command see the
contents of the drive?


**
I booted with a DOS disk and typed the command dir C: (to change to the
C: drive) - got en error - invalid drive specification.

Sounds like a dead drive even though the BIOS found it.
****

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375




"anon" wrote in message
...
What would cause the 'drive not ready/Insert BOOT diskette...' error
on bootup when the BIOS system configuration shows 'primary master :
hard disk xxMB'?

System is w98se.

"anon" wrote in message
...

"Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message
...
Corrupt or missing boot files.
Unformatted or corrupt/damaged drive.

If it is formatted and has an OS on it:
Can you boot with a 98 boot disk and with the dir command see the
contents
of the drive?


**
I booted with a DOS disk and typed the command dir C: (to change to the C:
drive) - got en error - invalid drive specification.

Sounds like a dead drive even though the BIOS found it.
****

It cannot be dead if the BIOS was able to find it.
If it was dead, you'd get a different error message.

If the system cannot find the C drive, that means that
it has lost the partition table.

You can try typing FDISK /MBR after booting with the floppy.

"Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message
...
At the A: prompt type:
c:\ and press Enter.
dir and press Enter.

If it shows the contents and flies by too fast type:
dir /p **The /p switch takes the screen one page at a time.

Press any key to advance a page.
To get to the end at any time press CTRL+C.


**
Typed the C:\ and got the error message. see below.
***

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375




"anon" wrote in message
...

"Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message
...
Corrupt or missing boot files.
Unformatted or corrupt/damaged drive.

If it is formatted and has an OS on it:
Can you boot with a 98 boot disk and with the dir command see the
contents of the drive?


**
I booted with a DOS disk and typed the command dir C: (to change to the
C: drive) - got en error - invalid drive specification.

Sounds like a dead drive even though the BIOS found it.
****

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375




"anon" wrote in message
...
What would cause the 'drive not ready/Insert BOOT diskette...' error
on bootup when the BIOS system configuration shows 'primary master :
hard disk xxMB'?

System is w98se.