Simviation Forums

ok, ive got another PC im looking to fix, when i turn it on it says:

Invalid system disk
replace the disk, and then press any key

so I made a system disk and put that in. when i press a button it comes up

Intel (R) Boot Agent Version 4.0.19
Copyright (C) 1997-2001, Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test faliure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM
Boot Faliure: System Halted

From what I understand the PXE Is something to do with networking, this suggests that it was used as a workstation on a network.

I got this computer second hand and the company which made the computer is charging

I have just turned of network support in BIOS to stop it looking for a server and have the system disk in now. does anyone know what I should do with this to get windows running self sufficiently (it is windows 98)

It is indeed configured as a workstation. It looks like it was set in BIOS to boot from LAN to the network OS. Disable LAN in BIOS and set first boot priority to HDD0. Save changes and Reboot. Then enable LAN again. Reboot. It should boot into Win98 without the system disk in.

Why don't you just put a windows install disk in and load an op sys?

You'll should just format the old thing and forget about what's on the hard disk....... ie.... erase it by formatting.

If you don't know how to load an op sys, get the mainboard drivers then come back and ask.

The other answer is of course that the hard disk is stuffed. you could slave the disk to another PC and format/test it first.

Win 98: put cd in drive, set cd drive in priority before the harddisk and it should start the setup.

Message at the top says: no readable sectors on the drive (otherwise it would be 'non system disk or disk error') so it needs fdisk first (and win 98 won't setup on a non-partitioned drive as it needs to copy some stuff)

Ivan , the error does say non system disk according to the op. It would be partitioned already, though Fdisking won't hurt if he knows how, easier to partition and format from an XP system though.

The bios will still probably need to be set to boot from hard disk first though, if it's been changed to boot from a network drive.

ok, problem solved.
I got my grubby little hands on a copy of win98se and i've reformatted the hard drive and installed that.
simple really
now for the hard part, Internet connection sharing

Good Luck! (I've just spent 2 weeks trying to set up a simple network, still no luck.)

i managed to get the network running earlier, its only a crossover cable running between the computers but at least its doing the job

Great!

Networking is my personal curse...........  :P

Congo, I agree. My network will work for a couple of months then quit. A couple of months later it will work again. I have fought this for years and can't get a grip on it.