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When your computer does not boot, the first thing a technician
must ask is; what do you mean by "it won't boot"? Many times the
problem is simply that the user doesn't have their monitor
turned on, or that they received the "Invalid system disk"
message because they left a floppy in the drive. Or does the
user mean WINDOWS won't start?
A problem can occur in the boot sequence even before the hard
disk comes into play. When a computer first starts, its Basic
Input/Out System (BIOS) performs a Power On Self Test (POST).
Before the computer is ready to use the display, it communicates
using beep codes. After the display is initialized, it sends
codes to the screen.
If your computer stops with an error code on the screen, you
need to find out who made your computers BIOS and check the
website of the BIOS manufacturer for the meaning of the error
code.
When your computer boots, the BIOS reads the hard disk's
partition table in order to find the boot record. If the
partition table is damaged, the message "Invalid drive or drive
specification" will be displayed. The partition table does not
change after the drive is partitioned and formatted unless it
has been damaged, possibly by a virus.
If the boot record is damaged, you will receive the message
"Invalid system disk". If the partition table and boot record
are good, the computer will read the hard disk's File Allocation
Table (FAT) in order to start loading Windows operating system
files. If the FAT is damaged, you will receive the message
"Sector not found reading drive C".
If you do not receive any beeps, error codes or messages and
your computer still will not boot, then the problem is Windows
will not start. Note: the POST makes a single beep to test the
speaker; this is not an error.
If you have a damaged partition table, boot record, or FAT, you
can use Nuts & Bolts Disk Minder or Norton Disk Doctor to make a
repair. You must have the utility on a bootable floppy disk and
execute it from the floppy. Or you can install a new hard drive
and load Windows and one of the above utility suites on the new
hard drive. Then configure the old drive as slave and repair it
from the new drive.
Note: If your hard drive makes a loud whining noise when you
first start your computer, you need to run out and get that new
hard drive now.
The first step to repair a computer that won't boot is to find
out what "it won't boot" means. If during boot you did not
receive any of the errors mentioned above, that probably means
Windows won't start. How to repair that problem is covered in
another article.
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