Major problem with a Windows 98 system

I got out my old IBM Aptiva (400mhz K6-2, 8gig HD, 96mb ram) to give to my
father and I loaded the IBM restart disk to do a fresh re-install of Windows
98.

During the process, there was an error and it restarted.

When the PC rebooted, I got this message on the DOS screen:

"Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."

I tried re-entering the CD and it didn't work. I made a Win98 bootdisk and
tried loading that at startup and I got the same message.

I tried switching around the boot order from A,D,C to D,A,C to C,D,A, etc.
Same message.

Then, I unplugged the CD drive and floppy and just tried booting the C
drive. Same results.

Does anyone know what the problem is? Do I have to buy a new HD?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

To find out whether or not the HD has failed, go to the IBM www site and get
some hardware diagnostics for your machine. If it has failed, replacement
drives are readily available on E-bay.

However, if you can't boot to floppy then there may be a more serious
problem. Have you tested the floppy in another machine?
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"The Waker" wrote in message
news
I got out my old IBM Aptiva (400mhz K6-2, 8gig HD, 96mb ram) to give to my
father and I loaded the IBM restart disk to do a fresh re-install of
Windows 98.

During the process, there was an error and it restarted.

When the PC rebooted, I got this message on the DOS screen:

"Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."

I tried re-entering the CD and it didn't work. I made a Win98 bootdisk
and tried loading that at startup and I got the same message.

I tried switching around the boot order from A,D,C to D,A,C to C,D,A, etc.
Same message.

Then, I unplugged the CD drive and floppy and just tried booting the C
drive. Same results.

Does anyone know what the problem is? Do I have to buy a new HD?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Jeff Richards wrote:
To find out whether or not the HD has failed, go to the IBM www site and
get some hardware diagnostics for your machine. If it has failed,
replacement drives are readily available on E-bay.

However, if you can't boot to floppy then there may be a more serious
problem. Have you tested the floppy in another machine?

I don't think a diagnostic will help. I can't DO anything. The first thing
that comes up the is "Invalid system disk..." message.

I tried the floppy on another PC and it works fine.


I got out my old IBM Aptiva (400mhz K6-2, 8gig HD, 96mb ram) to give to
my father and I loaded the IBM restart disk to do a fresh re-install of
Windows 98.

During the process, there was an error and it restarted.

When the PC rebooted, I got this message on the DOS screen:

"Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."

I tried re-entering the CD and it didn't work. I made a Win98 bootdisk
and tried loading that at startup and I got the same message.

I tried switching around the boot order from A,D,C to D,A,C to C,D,A,
etc. Same message.

Then, I unplugged the CD drive and floppy and just tried booting the C
drive. Same results.

Does anyone know what the problem is? Do I have to buy a new HD?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Can you get into BIOS setup and confirm the settings? For instance, confirm
that the floppy drive is identified as the correct type.

If the floppy drive type is set correctly and the floppy is OK in another
machine and you still can't get it to boot, then you can't run diagnostics
to determine the cause of the problem. In this case there are two standard
procedures.

The common approach, which might not be suitable for a laptop, is to take
things apart and then put them all back together. This usually solves the
problem.

The second option is to take the machine to an expert. They will probably
replace components with known good units until the problem changes or goes
away.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"The Waker" wrote in message
...
snip

I don't think a diagnostic will help. I can't DO anything. The first
thing that comes up the is "Invalid system disk..." message.

I tried the floppy on another PC and it works fine.

You can't boot floppy, CD-ROM or hard drive & always see: "Invalid
system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key". Well, it was
just so on a friend's machine-- not mine!-- who plugged in an IDE cable
upside down! Two of them!

Un/re-plug the IDE data cables to all drives! If it takes too much
pushing, they're upside down! The arrow needs to line up with the knick
in the slot!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"The Waker" wrote in message
news | I got out my old IBM Aptiva (400mhz K6-2, 8gig HD, 96mb ram) to give
to my
| father and I loaded the IBM restart disk to do a fresh re-install of
Windows
| 98.
|
| During the process, there was an error and it restarted.
|
| When the PC rebooted, I got this message on the DOS screen:
|
| "Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."
|
| I tried re-entering the CD and it didn't work. I made a Win98
bootdisk and
| tried loading that at startup and I got the same message.
|
| I tried switching around the boot order from A,D,C to D,A,C to C,D,A,
etc.
| Same message.
|
| Then, I unplugged the CD drive and floppy and just tried booting the C
| drive. Same results.
|
| Does anyone know what the problem is? Do I have to buy a new HD?
|
| Any help would be appreciated.
|
| Thanks.
|
|