It always says: Invalid Boot Diskette Please insert Boot Diskette in A:

Question

I have a Dell Dimension L800r with Windows ME. When

ever i try to start the computer it just says "Invalid Boot Diskette Please insert

Boot Diskette in A:". Now I have tried almost everything, but it just has the same

message. I have checked all of the cables from the floppy drive, motherboard and

hard drive, i made a boot disk and tried it, i tried every cd that the computer

came with, but it still has the same message. Also, if I take the hard drive and

put it in my other (working)computer it says that it has no OS installed on it.

And when i tried to scan with Norton Antivirus or reinstall Windows ME it said

that it couldn't even find the hard drive (C:\ drive). But no matter what, it

still has the same message! Someone help.

zjatzindustries · Answer

PS: And, of course, I tried all sorts of stuff with the BIOS and disabling the floppy drive or making the hard drive boot first (Oh, and the computer doesn't have its original CD drive, but I don't think that that has anything to do with the problem)

ejn63 · Answer

It sounds like your hard drive is toast - replace it.

pikotski · Answer

Have you tried running the 32 bit diagnostic? It will determine which is causing the error, whether its the hard drive or the software.

Reboot your system, press F12 when you see the Dell logo, Choose the option " Utility Partition" and "32 bit diagnostic".

Choose "Select Devices to test" and choose IDE.

if your hard drive will not pass the diagnostic, it means you have to backup your data and replace your hard drive. If it does, you should try reinstalling the OS. Hope this helps...

Storage, Drives & Media

It always says: Invalid Boot Diskette Please insert Boot Diskette in A:

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