Invalid System Disk

My computer keeps telling me that I have 'an invalid system disk ' but I am
using the boot disc to restart my system. Can anybody point me in the right
direction as to what the problem is.

If you mean that you have a bootable floppy inserted that you're trying
to boot to, it's either a bad floppy disk or a bad floppy drive. At
least, those are the two primary reasons for that message, the ones to
consider first.

Have you tried a different bootable floppy disk? Hint: A bootable floppy
made on a Windows XP system will often cause headaches--don't ask, I
don't know why. Try to use another Win98 system to create a new Startup
disk.

Might I ask--why are you booting to a floppy disk (*if* that's what
you're doing)? Is your HD system also giving you this error?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote in
message ...
My computer keeps telling me that I have 'an invalid system disk ' but
I am
using the boot disc to restart my system. Can anybody point me in the
right
direction as to what the problem is.

Hi,
My computer kept freezing up or getting the blue screen of death, so I
backed up all my system and Formatted C drive, I am now using the 'boot disc'
to re-install windows 98 SE. I thought that perhaps my 'a' drive was faulty,
so I've replaced it with another from a friend and I made sure that it was
working before doing the swap. But I will make another copy of a boot disc
and try just in case the Microsoft Boot disc is corrupt.

Many thanks. Just in case its not the disc which I somehow dont this it is,
can you suggest anything else that may be the problem

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

If you mean that you have a bootable floppy inserted that you're trying
to boot to, it's either a bad floppy disk or a bad floppy drive. At
least, those are the two primary reasons for that message, the ones to
consider first.

Have you tried a different bootable floppy disk? Hint: A bootable floppy
made on a Windows XP system will often cause headaches--don't ask, I
don't know why. Try to use another Win98 system to create a new Startup
disk.

Might I ask--why are you booting to a floppy disk (*if* that's what
you're doing)? Is your HD system also giving you this error?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote in
message ...
My computer keeps telling me that I have 'an invalid system disk ' but
I am
using the boot disc to restart my system. Can anybody point me in the
right
direction as to what the problem is.

Question: How did you reformat the HD? Using that same Startup disk?
Using the old floppy drive? And then it all fell apart?

Sure, I could suggest other possibilities, but you aren't going to like
them, s. Let's see what happens with a new boot disk.

BSODs and freezing, particularly if they occur frequently and more or
less randomly, suggest hardware problems. Could be just due to a messy
system, but you might consider the possibility that your hardware is
fried in one or more serious ways. What kind of machine is it? How old?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote in
message ...
Hi,
My computer kept freezing up or getting the blue screen of death, so I
backed up all my system and Formatted C drive, I am now using the
'boot disc'
to re-install windows 98 SE. I thought that perhaps my 'a' drive was
faulty,
so I've replaced it with another from a friend and I made sure that it
was
working before doing the swap. But I will make another copy of a boot
disc
and try just in case the Microsoft Boot disc is corrupt.

Many thanks. Just in case its not the disc which I somehow dont this
it is,
can you suggest anything else that may be the problem

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

If you mean that you have a bootable floppy inserted that you're
trying
to boot to, it's either a bad floppy disk or a bad floppy drive. At
least, those are the two primary reasons for that message, the ones
to
consider first.

Have you tried a different bootable floppy disk? Hint: A bootable
floppy
made on a Windows XP system will often cause headaches--don't ask, I
don't know why. Try to use another Win98 system to create a new
Startup
disk.

Might I ask--why are you booting to a floppy disk (*if* that's what
you're doing)? Is your HD system also giving you this error?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote
in
message ...
My computer keeps telling me that I have 'an invalid system disk '
but
I am
using the boot disc to restart my system. Can anybody point me in
the
right
direction as to what the problem is.

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote in =
message ...
My computer keeps telling me that I have 'an invalid system disk ' but =
I am=20
using the boot disc to restart my system. Can anybody point me in the =
right=20
direction as to what the problem is.

Start the computer and watch the screen closely for something like
"Press delete for setup". Press the appropriate key, then find
"Boot sequence" or "Boot order" and make sure it is set to=20
"A:, C:". Be sure to save the change when exiting. Then try
starting the computer with the boot disk. If this doesn't help,
try creating a new boot disk.

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Ben

Good catch. It's official, I'm tired. Nighty-night.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
"ever-so-greatfull" wrote in
message ...
My computer keeps telling me that I have 'an invalid system disk ' but
I am
using the boot disc to restart my system. Can anybody point me in the
right
direction as to what the problem is.

Start the computer and watch the screen closely for something like
"Press delete for setup". Press the appropriate key, then find
"Boot sequence" or "Boot order" and make sure it is set to
"A:, C:". Be sure to save the change when exiting. Then try
starting the computer with the boot disk. If this doesn't help,
try creating a new boot disk.

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Ben

Hi,

Shut down and chose the option rebooted into dos mode and then at the prompt
typed 'FORMAT C: The used the boot disk in the old 'A' drive and got the
message, that when I tried another 'A' drive just in case it was that. The
computer was bought ust prior to 2000 as the old one wasn't 2000 compatable.
I have to go to work now so I will make another boot disc on a machine there
and try

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

Question: How did you reformat the HD? Using that same Startup disk?
Using the old floppy drive? And then it all fell apart?

Sure, I could suggest other possibilities, but you aren't going to like
them, s. Let's see what happens with a new boot disk.

BSODs and freezing, particularly if they occur frequently and more or
less randomly, suggest hardware problems. Could be just due to a messy
system, but you might consider the possibility that your hardware is
fried in one or more serious ways. What kind of machine is it? How old?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote in
message ...
Hi,
My computer kept freezing up or getting the blue screen of death, so I
backed up all my system and Formatted C drive, I am now using the
'boot disc'
to re-install windows 98 SE. I thought that perhaps my 'a' drive was
faulty,
so I've replaced it with another from a friend and I made sure that it
was
working before doing the swap. But I will make another copy of a boot
disc
and try just in case the Microsoft Boot disc is corrupt.

Many thanks. Just in case its not the disc which I somehow dont this
it is,
can you suggest anything else that may be the problem

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

If you mean that you have a bootable floppy inserted that you're
trying
to boot to, it's either a bad floppy disk or a bad floppy drive. At
least, those are the two primary reasons for that message, the ones
to
consider first.

Have you tried a different bootable floppy disk? Hint: A bootable
floppy
made on a Windows XP system will often cause headaches--don't ask, I
don't know why. Try to use another Win98 system to create a new
Startup
disk.

Might I ask--why are you booting to a floppy disk (*if* that's what
you're doing)? Is your HD system also giving you this error?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote
in
message ...
My computer keeps telling me that I have 'an invalid system disk '
but
I am
using the boot disc to restart my system. Can anybody point me in
the
right
direction as to what the problem is.

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote in
message ...
My computer keeps telling me that I have 'an invalid system disk ' but I
am
using the boot disc to restart my system. Can anybody point me in the
right
direction as to what the problem is.

You have 2 problems.

First, the "Invalid System Disk" means that the boot process
can no longer detect the system boot files on your hard drive.

Second, while you think that you are using the boot disc
to restart your system, the BIOS boot options
are not setup so that the A drive is the primary boot option.

When you reboot, look for a message which indicates
what action you need to take to run (the BIOS) Setup.
It may be the Delete key, or the F1 function key.

Then look for the Boot Option parameter
and change it so that the A drive is the primary option.

As others have pointed out, I overlooked the most obvious
possibility--your BIOS is probably not set to try drive A: as a boot
option.

Give that a try before tearing out any more hair.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote in
message ...
Hi,

Shut down and chose the option rebooted into dos mode and then at the
prompt
typed 'FORMAT C: The used the boot disk in the old 'A' drive and got
the
message, that when I tried another 'A' drive just in case it was that.
The
computer was bought ust prior to 2000 as the old one wasn't 2000
compatable.
I have to go to work now so I will make another boot disc on a machine
there
and try

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

Question: How did you reformat the HD? Using that same Startup disk?
Using the old floppy drive? And then it all fell apart?

Sure, I could suggest other possibilities, but you aren't going to
like
them, s. Let's see what happens with a new boot disk.

BSODs and freezing, particularly if they occur frequently and more or
less randomly, suggest hardware problems. Could be just due to a
messy
system, but you might consider the possibility that your hardware is
fried in one or more serious ways. What kind of machine is it? How
old?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"ever-so-greatfull" wrote
in
message ...
Hi,
My computer kept freezing up or getting the blue screen of death,
so I
backed up all my system and Formatted C drive, I am now using the
'boot disc'
to re-install windows 98 SE. I thought that perhaps my 'a' drive
was
faulty,
so I've replaced it with another from a friend and I made sure that
it
was
working before doing the swap. But I will make another copy of a
boot
disc
and try just in case the Microsoft Boot disc is corrupt.

Many thanks. Just in case its not the disc which I somehow dont
this
it is,
can you suggest anything else that may be the problem

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

If you mean that you have a bootable floppy inserted that you're
trying
to boot to, it's either a bad floppy disk or a bad floppy drive.
At
least, those are the two primary reasons for that message, the
ones
to
consider first.

Have you tried a different bootable floppy disk? Hint: A bootable
floppy
made on a Windows XP system will often cause headaches--don't ask,
I
don't know why. Try to use another Win98 system to create a new
Startup
disk.

Might I ask--why are you booting to a floppy disk (*if* that's
what
you're doing)? Is your HD system also giving you this error?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"ever-so-greatfull"
wrote
in
message ...
My computer keeps telling me that I have 'an invalid system disk
'
but
I am
using the boot disc to restart my system. Can anybody point me
in
the
right
direction as to what the problem is.