Boot Failure message

[Steve Y]

The other day I left for work and my computer was running properly. Upong
return my screen read: Boot failure" Insert BOOT diskette in A:

Question is, how and why did this happen when no one was using the computer
and how do I fix the problem? In searching the items that came with my pc,
there was no diskette. My pc is about 4 years old.

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Steve

Not an 'Office' question really.. you operating system may have corrupted in
that it lost track of the file system, or your hard drive has physically
failed.. you will have to run a hard drive diagnostic on the machine as part
of the recovery process..

If the non destructive tests come up clear, you must attempt to recover
important and user created files off of the hard drive.. you will have to
install the drive into another computer that has a file recovery program
installed, or take the drive to a file recovery specialist.. a 100% recovery
is not guaranteed..

If you have nothing special on your computer, you can attempt a repair
install, or do a clean install direct from the XP CD.. for info on all types
of XP installations, go to

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com

At the point where you have recovered anything from the drive, it may be an
idea to do a low level format (write zeros) on the drive.. the diskette
created to diagnose initially will have this function already on it.. low
level formatting will show errors that would otherwise get through the
earlier non destructive tests.. if any errors are recorded by the low level
format process, you will have to obtain a new hard drive..