HELP!! Computer Won't Boot!

J

JohnPetrucci00

New Member
I just bought a used HP xw9300 and installed two SATA hard drives (it came with hard drives removed). It seems that no matter how I connect the hard drive(s) and modify the BIOS, I get the same error message:

"Non-System disk or disk error
replace and strike any key when ready"

The hard drives are blank, but I've tried three different Linux installation DVD's, all of which lead to the same error message.

Not sure where to go from here...

-John
 
You need to make the CD-ROM (or DVD) Drive the first in boot priority. It appears to me that your system is trying to start from a hard drive that does not have an operating system installed on it.
 
I have made the DVD drive first boot priority in the BIOS, followed by USB, then the hard drive. I have booted other systems using the DVD currently in the drive.
 
Are the cdrom drives sata or IDE? If IDE are they jumpered correctly. If they aren't jumpered correctly then it won't be able to find a bootable cd.
 
The DVD drive is IDE. From lots of experimenting it seems that it will only boot from a CD, not a DVD. Could this be related to the jumpers? Where are the jumpers and how do I know if they are correct?
 
Sorry for the late reply. But if its booting to a cd and not a dvd then the dvd part of it has failed. There are 2 eyes in that drive, one for reading cd's and one for reading dvd's. You can try taking a can of compressed air and blowing inside the drive to see if there is something blocking the eye or try finding it and and take a cloth and wipe it to see if that allows it to work. But most of the time, it just fails and you basically need a new drive.
 
Are you ABSOLUTELY sure is it a DVD drive?
I looked up the systems specs and it says it is so... But you also got it from some one else who also took the hard drives out :/
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top