Boot failure: System halted

[swee'pea99]

Aaaargh! Got this, googled, replaced the CMOS, same difference. Plan B - replace hard drive, same difference. Am I stuffed? Any ideas? Ta.

 

[rh100]

Check the boot sequence first, then check if the drive can be seen by bios

or sounds like the OS or boot sector is missing or corrupt

You have replaced the drive - but have you got an OS on it? can you boot from a cd?

 

[S_t_e_v_e]

I would troubleshoot this by;
step 1: Check bios settings - bootable device order and priorities
step 2: Check cables.
step 3: try to boot with a bootable CD/DVD
step 4: try to boot with another hard drive
step 5: if nothing boots after the above, then maybe the motherboard is faulty.

Good luck...

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks. Please forgive my numptyness, but I can't get as far as checking bios. All I get is a black screen with the words:

Boot failure: System halted

in white at the top.

I tried starting up with a restore disc in the CD drive, but nothing hapened.

 

[S_t_e_v_e]

I would unplug everything except the main components... to see if the basic machine will get any further... (I presume you are using a Desktop PC) - Check all cables are seated properly and cpu fan is clear...

A local computer shop would help you out for a small charge...

 

[rh100]

you say you replaced the CMOS - do you mean the battery? this will likely have wiped the bios settings

immediately after boot up - look for anything on screen telling you what to press to get into setup - it's usually either the DEL key, or F2 or F12 or something like that. Once into BIOS - look for things to do with hard disk setup and make sure is on auto if available and see if the drive is recognized - then look for boot sequence and put the hard disk at the top. Change this to cd to try booting from disk.

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks guys but I think it's time for the last rites. I tried re-fitting the CMOS battery and unplugging/replugging cables and now it's dead as a dodo. Some lights come on, on the motherboard and eslewhere, and the cd drawer will open & close, but there's nothing happening to the HD and the screen's completely black. Boo hoo. Thanks anyway.

 

[rh100]

Forgot to mention: with boot issues make sure the cd drive is empty and no memory stick/card plugged in.

 

[2Loose]

All good advice, but S_t_e_v_e +1
I am betting on a SATA cable here...faulty or broken inside, so no amount of unplugging it in and plugging it back in will fix it.

Remove HD cables from motherboard and try again with the disk in the drive. See what occurs.

 

[swee'pea99]

All good advice, but S_t_e_v_e +1
I am betting on a SATA cable here...faulty or broken inside, so no amount of unplugging it in and plugging it back in will fix it.

Remove HD cables from motherboard and try again with the disk in the drive. See what occurs.

Numpty time...

SATA cable = the cable between MB & HD?
When you say 'disc in the drive', do you mean system recovery cd?

 

[SavageHoutkop]

does frantic <f2> or <del> pressing get anywhere ? Or cntrl - alt - del ? (trying to think of all the misc combos my PCs have had in the past).
(along the lines of 'press 'del' to enter setup' )

(first thing you do just after it 'beeps' if it beeps and before it says 'boot failure').
If it doesn't normally beep when you start it up, start frantically pressing whatever it is that gets you into the BIOS as soon as you press the power button.

If that works and you get into the bios, probably prove that the motherboard/cpu is fine and it's the HDD. Which I think it is given it's a 'boot' failure.

 

[swee'pea99]

I managed to get into the BIOS! And when I went to boot order, I found only one possible candidate - removable device. So it clearly isn't 'seeing' the HD...tho' I'm no nearer to finding out why. But at least that's something. Maybe I'll be able to find an old pooter I can cannibalise a MB->HD cable from, and see if that makes a difference.

 

[S_t_e_v_e]

Well done... that's a lot closer to finding out why.... as its pointing to a HD problem... maybe it is the cable as 2Loose suggested.... Listen out for the Hard drive spinning up to speed when you switch it back on, in case its a power problem...

 

[SavageHoutkop]

good! so if it's not even seeing the HDD it's probably either completely busted (the HDD) or it's just not connected to the motherboard right (cable).

I've managed to mess up boot sectors before; if that happens it can still see the HDD but can't boot off it. Not seeing it at all... that's different.

 

[swee'pea99]

Hmmm - interesting! Or the motherboard's knackered, right?