Laptop Help

[Final Maxim]

Hard disk boot sector invalid
Press 'H' to retry Hard Disk, any other key for floppy.

get that on boot up, can get into BIOS, tried altering boot sequence but still same thing, pressing any key just brings the same quote back up again.

anything else i can try before i reinstall windows xp on it?

ta

 

[Griff]

Boot from the XP cd and select "Repair".

 

[Final Maxim]

put in the cd and it wont boot from it, just comes up same error messege

cd is first in boot order

ideas?

 

[Final Maxim]

bought new harddrive, popped in windows xp cd and still getting the same error

anyone help at all?

 

[Macester]

can you boot from USB? could try a linux distro or a simple dos:

http://www.download.com/DOS-on-USB/3000-2094_4-10795476.html

then try fixing the mbr through that?

worth a shot

 

[Final Maxim]

dunno what you mean boot from usb?

it aint an internal cdrom, its one of those external ones that plugs into 2 usb slots

 

[Macester]

i mean booting from a usb pen stick. one of those little things everybody keeps on their car keys these days, can you select to boot from usb in the bios?

whats up with the internal cd rom drive also?

have you tried taking the battery out and putting it back in, sounds crazy but it fixed my brothers when it couldnt find the operating system.

 

[Final Maxim]

its a really old laptop, aint got a cdrom in it, just came with an external one that plugs in via usb

ill try the battery now

dont have a usb pen stick handy, do you just copy the xp cd to the stick and then boot from it?

 

[Final Maxim]

nah didnt work

the cd rom starts to spin up then just stops

might download an ubuntu live cd and see if thatll boot up

 

[Final Maxim]

same error with an ubuntu cd

i just dunno what else i can try?

 

[Macester]

So the cdrom is attached via USB, is this what you have been setting in the bios? set to boot from usb first rather than cdrom then hard disk yes?

with the usb pen stick, you download that DOS installer through that link i posted. install it on your usb pen stick then boot from it and it will boot into DOS.

 

[Rob_]

U sure the cdrom aint fucked

 

[Macester]

if you have important stuff you need off the drive id suggest buying something like this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130517

comes in very handy from experience, crack the laptop open and get the drive out, then plug it into another computer through usb.

 

[Final Maxim]

even with the cd rom fucked it should still boot windows on the old harddrive? it just suddenly came up with this error

in the bios the boot order is

CD-ROM
PXE
Floppy
Harddisk

 

[Final Maxim]

if you have important stuff you need off the drive id suggest buying something like this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130517

comes in very handy from experience, crack the laptop open and get the drive out, then plug it into another computer through usb.

nah nothing on the harddrive i need, just need the laptop working again

 

[dk]

older laptops sometimes have trouble booting from certain usb cd roms from experience, i've had issues with this too, not much you can do really as it probably won't boot from a usb pen either.

Could try taking it into work and getting them to pxe boot it and install it that way if you have a remote deployment tool at work.

 

[Macester]

even with the cd rom f**ked it should still boot windows on the old harddrive? it just suddenly came up with this error

in the bios the boot order is

CD-ROM
PXE
Floppy
Harddisk

it seems your bios doesnt support USB boot up, that will be why your cd rom will not boot if it is attached via USB.

why can you boot to the cdrom when it doesnt even have an internal one! silly people.

well all i can suggest now is removing the drive, plugging it into usb of another computer with that equipment i suggested then either fixing it or format it again. only way out it seems.

or what the man above said^

 

[Final Maxim]

could i try putting the harddrive into another laptop and boot the xp cd from that laptop, install it on there and then put it back into the broken laptop?

 

[Final Maxim]

this forum is FUCKED

f**king pile of w**k.

 

[Rob_]

could i try putting the harddrive into another laptop and boot the xp cd from that laptop, install it on there and then put it back into the broken laptop?

Yes you could do it that way

 

[dk]

might have an issue with drivers then though, as they will be the wrong ones.

Not sure that would work.

 

[Final Maxim]

why would i get the same error messege on 2 different harddrives? could it be a hardware problem like ram or something?

i can understand a harddrive breaking and throwing up an error, but when you get the same error on a new harddrive it just has me thinking why?

 

[Pettsi]

Try re-seating the memory.

 

[Final Maxim]

Try re-seating the memory.

took it out, cleaned it, put it back in, same thing

 

[Final Maxim]

is there a circle battery on laptop motherboards like on pcs where you can drop it out to wipe it?

 

[Macester]

yeah there should be some sort of cmos battery on the motherboard located somewhere.