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Looks like I have a serious problem with one of my PCs which I use to run additional plugins on (not my main PC). Just prior to the problem, I had rebooted the PC. Whilst it was rebooting, I realised I had left a USB 128 MB drive attatched and, after waiting for the USB device to stop flashing, I removed it. Yes, I removed a device from my PC whilst the system was still booting. So then the Windows XP screen didn't appear but, instead, a message came up:-


Verifying DMI Pool Data.....
Boot from CD:
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER


Only thing is I don't have a system disk. Looks like I managed to mess up the booting sector of my hard drive by removing the USB device. Do I need to completely reinstall Windows and thus have to reinstall everything again?!

I have tried switching off my PC from the mains for a few minutes then rebooting. Checked there was no disc in my CD-R drive (it has no floppy drive). Rebooted with and without the USB drive attatched. The hard drive is recognised in the BIOS where all the settings seem to be OK (not changed them prior to this problem). Tried safe mode and all seems OK.

Still get the same message.

Can anyone help?

Just switched my PC off completely, so not connected to the mains. Left it standing like this for about 5 minutes (previously tried this for about 30 secs with noi uck). Switched the PC back on - message appeared:- "load needed DLLs for kernel". Had to CTRL-ALT-DEL and then Windows XP loaded fine. I have not rebooted the PC yet as I want to make a system disk - now that I have realised the importance of one.

Not too sure what the "load needed DLLs for kernel" message is about though. Must have been some .dll files missing. Hopefully all will be OK though when I reboot (after making a system disk.)........

the "insert system disk" message is not a smart meaningful one(in of itself), i'm sorry to tell you. the "system disk" that should be inserted is the now dead harddrive that your os is on. the boot sector seems to have an error. you may be able to fix the error, but i suggest getting a new drive and starting over even if you are able to fix the original. your data may still be recoverable, you can try connecting the drive to another computer(as an additional drive) and see if the files are visible first....

All seems to be working fine now. Just need to find out the best way to backup my data (which I have requested info on in another thread on this Tech Talk forum).

usb onto a memory stick or another harddrive would be a good way.

your hd is likely dying and time is probably short....

It's worth checking the IDE and power connections to the drives/mobo. Once I had very strange behaviour that looked like a bad HD, but the IDE connectors had come a little loose (probably because of heat). Unplugged and replugged - everything fine.

But of course you should back up. External 500GB drives are very cheap now (around £65-70), so buy a few and make several backups!