AHHH Boot disk failure, need help with getting back to normal

[mystic54]

Ok here is the situation. My computer has been working fine for months. I had 2 HDD's, a dvd drive, and a floppy connected. Today I removed one of the HDD's that wasn't in use. I rebooted my PC and it said boot disk error.

Anyway I change my cables, nothing seems to work. I have one set of IDE cable that is connected to the dvd drive, and other set of ide cable was connected to the hard drives.

I tried connecting the hard drive on the same cable as the dvd drive ide cable, but then it doesn't even seem to detect the dvd drive.

Please somebody help me put my mind at ease!!!!!!!

I am trying to get help on other forums as well but they seem to have stalled on me. Please Anandtech, help me have a good first experience!!!

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=609047

http://forums.techguy.org/hard...disk-failure-need.html

http://www.5starsupport.com/ip...600bb45&showtopic=9113

 

[JustaGeek]

Go into the BIOS, the Boot priority, and make sure that your Hard Drive is selected as the drive to boot from. (Check if it is even showing in BIOS - if not, see below).

I normally select:

1. Removable drive (floppy)
2. CD Drive
3. HDD.

Make sure that the jumper on your HD is selected to either "Cable Select" or "Master", and connect the very end of the IDE cable to the drive (not the second connector).

And ensure that you haven't disconnected anything while removing the other drive, e.g. Power Connector to the Hard Drive, Motherboard IDE cable connector etc. Verify if the proper end of the IDE cable is connected to the motherboard (usually, the one on the side of the longer distance between the connectors), and if it is firmly inserted in the socket.

Hope this helps.

Lastly... make sure that you haven't removed the wrong HD with the OS on it!

 

[cubby1223]

Have a Western Digital hard drive? They still have different jumper settings for 1 & 2 drive configurations. Make sure it's set for "single or master" and not "master w/ slave present".