[SOLVED] Invalid Boot Diskette.....

macten · 07-01-2008, 10:36 PM

I'm working on an old Dell Dimension L733R, PIII with Windows ME.

No matter what I do, when I boot it, the following comes on the screen:

Invalid Boot Diskette
Insert Boot Disk in A:

I've changed the boot order every which way to Sunday. Makes no difference. The bios detects the hardrive. I reset the bios to 'defaults' with F9. I removed the battery for 10 minutes. I tried to boot from a W2000 disk in the cdrom.

I set the cdrom as 1st boot device with hardrive as second and 3rd disabled. Makes no difference.

The

Invalid Boot Diskette
Insert Boot Disk in A:

comes on the screen every time. Even though the floppy drive is not even in the boot order. It's almost if that message is permanently in memory. Any ideas?

dai · 07-02-2008, 05:46 AM

check you ahve not left a floppy disk in the drive

macten · 07-02-2008, 06:20 AM

all disks are out of all drives. I even disabled the diskette drive in the bios and the drive isin't even in the boot order. so the only drives in the boot order are cdrom and the hardrive. didn't work. it's almost as if this message is permanantly programmed in......

dai · 07-02-2008, 06:22 AM

boot to a dos prom't and run
scanreg /restore

macten · 07-02-2008, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dai

boot to a dos prom't and run
scanreg /restore

I tried booting from both the floppy drive and the cdrom drive. I get the same message.

macten · 07-02-2008, 06:44 AM

Believe it or not.....earlier I swapped out the nic card. I just pulled the new nic card out and put the floppy drive in the boot order and it booted right up!!!!

dai · 07-02-2008, 08:14 PM

glad you have it sorted

macten · 07-02-2008, 08:18 PM

I reinstalled ME and updated it. It reboots every once in awhile. Probably heat or a failing power supply. But Speedfan gives no readings and SensorView won't install. Any other software to get the voltages/temps?

There's nothing in the bios.

dai · 07-02-2008, 10:58 PM

it's probably before they started putting sensors on the board
http://pc-wizard-2008.en.softonic.com/
redo the paste on the cpu with some arctic silver
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm
one of your friends may have a psu lying around you could use

07-01-2008, 10:36 PM	#1 (permalink)
macten Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 223 OS: xp	[SOLVED] Invalid Boot Diskette..... I'm working on an old Dell Dimension L733R, PIII with Windows ME. No matter what I do, when I boot it, the following comes on the screen: Invalid Boot Diskette Insert Boot Disk in A: I've changed the boot order every which way to Sunday. Makes no difference. The bios detects the hardrive. I reset the bios to 'defaults' with F9. I removed the battery for 10 minutes. I tried to boot from a W2000 disk in the cdrom. I set the cdrom as 1st boot device with hardrive as second and 3rd disabled. Makes no difference. The Invalid Boot Diskette Insert Boot Disk in A: comes on the screen every time. Even though the floppy drive is not even in the boot order. It's almost if that message is permanently in memory. Any ideas?

07-02-2008, 05:46 AM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 39,995 OS: vista 32x ultimate retail	Re: Invalid Boot Diskette..... check you ahve not left a floppy disk in the drive __________________

07-02-2008, 06:20 AM	#3 (permalink)
macten Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 223 OS: xp	Re: Invalid Boot Diskette..... all disks are out of all drives. I even disabled the diskette drive in the bios and the drive isin't even in the boot order. so the only drives in the boot order are cdrom and the hardrive. didn't work. it's almost as if this message is permanantly programmed in......

07-02-2008, 06:22 AM	#4 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 39,995 OS: vista 32x ultimate retail	Re: Invalid Boot Diskette..... boot to a dos prom't and run scanreg /restore __________________

07-02-2008, 06:44 AM	#6 (permalink)
macten Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 223 OS: xp	Re: Invalid Boot Diskette..... Believe it or not.....earlier I swapped out the nic card. I just pulled the new nic card out and put the floppy drive in the boot order and it booted right up!!!!

07-02-2008, 08:14 PM	#7 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 39,995 OS: vista 32x ultimate retail	Re: Invalid Boot Diskette..... glad you have it sorted __________________

07-02-2008, 08:18 PM	#8 (permalink)
macten Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 223 OS: xp	Re: [SOLVED] Invalid Boot Diskette..... I reinstalled ME and updated it. It reboots every once in awhile. Probably heat or a failing power supply. But Speedfan gives no readings and SensorView won't install. Any other software to get the voltages/temps? There's nothing in the bios.

07-02-2008, 10:58 PM	#9 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 39,995 OS: vista 32x ultimate retail	Re: [SOLVED] Invalid Boot Diskette..... it's probably before they started putting sensors on the board http://pc-wizard-2008.en.softonic.com/ redo the paste on the cpu with some arctic silver http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm one of your friends may have a psu lying around you could use __________________