Computer question

[Mr.Green93]

My computer is a p3 450 with 256 ram, Win98se. I get the Disk Boot Failure Insert Disk Press Enter message at start up. But if I unplug and replug the hard drive power supply and press enter the computer boots on up with no problem. Any ideas how to fix this?

[alevensalor]

1. Boot sector sounds screwy

The boot sector of the hard drive might be corrupted. If that's the case, you could try reinstalling the OS, which would rewrite the boot sector, but if it's a physical corruption, you'll likely have to replace the hard drive.

~A!

[Mr.Green93]

2. new drive

It is a new drive but i have the same problem with the other two drives on the system.

[CornField]

4. When you switched them out, did you buy new cables?

If unplugging and plugging fixes the problem (and you've had the drives checked for corruption) it sounds like a connector problem.

[Mr.Green93]

7. the ribbon is new

but the power connector is from the computer. I will check and clean the connectors. Thanks.

[alevensalor]

8. Then it's the power supply n/t

[ET Awful]

3. Could be a powerr supply issue.

Can you get another power suppy to try?

Sounds like your PSU might be dying and only occasionally can provide enough juice to power the hard drive.

[sam sarrha]

5. i had one that i had to turn off at the 'plug' then reboot to get to work

it was an older one.. as yours must be with '98', it was a bad power source.. there are a lot of older power units out there, i got one used at the shop for $20 put it in myself.

go to www.pcmech.com forum and ask there in the appropriate subject heading.. is is very simple. they are Very helpful

i got XP and replaced the 98, i later bought a new computer with XP.. and it had so many Advertisements in it it wouldn't work.. the off the shelf Xp programs are better.

you can go into 'msconfig' and turn off the ad's and it will work better, they eat up all your virtual. BUT you need to probably take it in to the shop or to a Nerd and get some help on what to turn off.. it is real important to do it right.

[Mr.Green93]

6. Thanks for the information,

That is two votes for power supply.