Compaq presario sr172onx will not start up

[Paul4523]

Hello, When i try to start up my computer, it will say: Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter. How ever i do not have the disk. and when i try to go to system recovery (f10) it doesnt do anything but go back to the same screen. please help.

 

[tsnor]

This is often the sign that the hard drive has failed. The hard drive holds your data (music, email, programs, photos, etc.) so this is a bad thing.

Go into the BIOS on the PC. Go into the menu that shows the hard drive and the CDROM drive. If the CDROM drive is there and the hard drive is not that is a good sign the hard drive failed. If the hard drive is there let us know, there is something else wrong.

Installing a new hard drive is an easy task. Once a new hard drive is installed you need to use your recovery disks to return your system to factory new. If you did not make recovery disks you can buy them from Compaq/HP for $10-$20. The support web site tells you how to order.

Data recovery from a failed hard drive is sometimes possible, but always expensive. Google 'disk failure data recovery' if your disk turns out to have failed and you need to recover something.

 

[Paul4523]

This is often the sign that the hard drive has failed. The hard drive holds your data (music, email, programs, photos, etc.) so this is a bad thing.

Go into the BIOS on the PC. Go into the menu that shows the hard drive and the CDROM drive. If the CDROM drive is there and the hard drive is not that is a good sign the hard drive failed. If the hard drive is there let us know, there is something else wrong.

Installing a new hard drive is an easy task. Once a new hard drive is installed you need to use your recovery disks to return your system to factory new. If you did not make recovery disks you can buy them from Compaq/HP for $10-$20. The support web site tells you how to order.

Data recovery from a failed hard drive is sometimes possible, but always expensive. Google 'disk failure data recovery' if your disk turns out to have failed and you need to recover something.

How do i get to the CDROM drive??

 

[tsnor]

Typically in the BIOS there is a list of SATA devices discovered. It's (in the BIOS's that I use) either on the first tab you get when you open the BIOS or on the ADVANCED tab that follows.

To get to the BIOS you hit a key like mad immediately after powering on and before you get the "Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter" message.

On some PCs this is F10. On others the del key or F1 or F2. Check your user's guide if you can find it online.

A second approach to see if the BIOS can find your disk is to hit F12 again immediately after boot and again keep hitting it. F12 typically pulls up a boot list that shows all bootable devices. If the disk isn't there then the system can't see it. The CDROM should show up on the boot list.