Invalid System Disk Error

Help me!

[computer nerd]

My User’s desktop failed to boot up and gave the message “Invalid System Disk” when the computer is turned on. What is the problem? what can i do now?

[jatar_k]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld computer_nerd,

maybe this search [google.com] will help

[2oddSox]

Is there a floppy disk inserted in the machine?
sorry if that's too obvious

[MattyMoose]

When the system starts up, you should see something like:

Primary Master: .... SAMSUNG HDA219890234 ATA-133
Primary Slave: ..... Not Detected
Secondary Master: .... LITEON DVDRW
Secondary Slave: .... Not Detected

Are you missing the one that says "Primary Master"? You may need to go into your BIOS to see it clearly (usually press <DEL> repeatedly while system is booting up). If it doesn't show up, it means that the disk isn't detected.

Open it up, and see if everything is plugged in correctly to the hard drive. There should be a power cable and an IDE cable plugged in. Reseat both of them (unplug, plug back in). Power it up again, and have a listen... Does the hard drive sound like it's spinning up? If so, you may have other problems (bad disk, head crash, etc).

If the drive is detected above, it may be that you've lost your MBR or partitions, or your disk was formatted.

[Rimpy]

Chk for any floppies. If no then go to the BIOS and set Primary Device as your hard drive. Save the changes to the bios. If this dosent work. Disconnect all the storage devices..i.e cd, dvd etc and leave only the hdd and see if it starts. If not try putting a different data cable and power cable also. IF this dosent work swapping with a good known HDD is also a very good option.