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Hard Drive not found "disk boot failure insert system disk and press enter"

8K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  n1vek 
#1 · (Edited)
Ok first off I want to say I've searched and searched and searched to no avail in trying to find a solution to this I've come to the conclusion it's software and not hardware based. Let me start from the top.

I've had an older computer (HP Pavilion a408x) out of commission for a while due to a 'sploded psu. I finally get around to ordering one, install it and everything is good. I bring it back to my office and hook it up to the internet and as expected there's updates. So I up date it and after the updates are installed the computer restarts automatically (weird yes) and as it's coming back on it detects errors and runs CHKDSK. So I let it run and it gets to part 2 of 3. At this point in time my partner is really needing to print sometime and all computers print through this computer. So after about 45 minutes CHKDSK is still on part 2 at only 15%. So I'm like "screw it" and manually shut down and restart. It's at this point I get a "primary master hard disk failure" at the boot screen. Letting start up continue I get a "Stop : c000021 unknown hard error \systemroot \system 32 \ntdll.dll" At this point I realize something is delectably wrong.

Found this thread, which didn't help much. At some point the c000021 error stops and I start getting "disk boot failure insert system disk and press enter" and I found this thread, which didn't help much either. I have also been searching other sites as well.

Here's what I found out that's important.

  • HDD shows up in BIOS
  • HDD shows up at the boot screen.
  • Recovery console does not find the HDD
  • Repair does not work becuase HDD is not detected
  • HDD does not show up in other computers (shows failure at boot screen)
  • Removed CMOS battery and replaced, didn't help
  • FDISK did not detect the HDD
  • Drive is currently in the freezer
  • Changed jumper to Cable Select no help
  • Tried unsuccessfully to create a boot disk.*

This drive is only 20gb, I'm trying to retrieve files that are valuable to me. If I can get these and the drive dies I'd be happen. 20gb drives are laughable these days. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. This is the first problem I haven't been able to solve with information that's already been posted. Thanks in advance! :pray:

*Get error "Windows XP could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows XP (TM) documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information. Boot Failed."
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Re: Hard Drive not found "disk boot failure insert system disk and press enter"

Anything would be super helpful, even if it's bad news. I just need to know if I can get this remedied or not.

Another thing I noticed is that the HDD activity light on the front of the computer does not blink or show any activity.

Thanks!
 
#3 ·
Re: Hard Drive not found "disk boot failure insert system disk and press enter"

long shot, but if bios is seeing it, but recovery console n all that aren't seeing it, check in bios to see if its see to view the hard drive as sata drive (i think it's in integrated peripherals, but i'm going strictly by memory.) if it is, set to something else (preferably ide.) sometimes with windows xp, it has a problem seeing stuff set up as sata. i wouldn't be surprised if you've seen a 0x7b bsod, which would support this.

if you have any questions on this, let me know. if you try setting it to something other than sata with no luck, the drive could be bad.
 
#4 ·
Re: Hard Drive not found "disk boot failure insert system disk and press enter"

Ok probably should have filled you in with more info regarding hardware. The drive is IDE. There are two ways I can achieve a bsod. Both are using the Win XP Pro install disk.

  1. Choosing the option to reinstall windows which gives me 0x08E bsod
  2. Choosing to delete partition which gives me the same 0x08E bsod



This is what I see at the install screen.

 
#8 · (Edited)
Re: Hard Drive not found "disk boot failure insert system disk and press enter"

Yea I've tried and I get a secondary slave hard disk fail.
I hate to say it but it sounds like you've got a bad hard drive on your hands. With the drive hooked up to another computer as a secondary slave drive, when see the message "secondary slave hard disk fail" does it give you the option to continue by pressing a function key (f1, f2, etc)? If it lets you continue, maybe you can access it in Windows and run a "CHKDSK /R" from the CMD promt. Let us know.

BTW, is the hard drive making any funny noises (clicking, grinding, etc) when you power on the computer?
 
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