tournesol Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Hello My Son has been given an ancient computer which was functioning perfectly well until he decided to mess around with various disks that came with it. It is an old Compaq deskpro and as soon as you switch it on the screen displays the following message....Invalid system diskReplace the disk and then press any keyHe doesn't know which disk caused the problem having tried everyone he can find - so can this be sorted out in a straight forward way ( other than launching it out of the window) so the computer can function again ?As you have gathered I am no expert on computers so any information greatly received in 'noddy' language please. Many thanks.ps. I am currently having 'livebox' problems aswell so please treat with care as this woman is on the edge concerning computers/internet and anything remotely technical ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 "messed around with various disks" is pretty vague. Could you be more specific. What did he do? what is the operating system? Do you have installation disks?If you search on Google using the phrase "Invalid system diskReplace the disk and then press any key"you will find lots of information on why this message is displayed.Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 [quote user="tournesol"]Hello My Son has been given an ancient computer which was functioning perfectly well until he decided to mess around with various disks that came with it. It is an old Compaq deskpro and as soon as you switch it on the screen displays the following message....Invalid system diskReplace the disk and then press any keyHe doesn't know which disk caused the problem having tried everyone he can find [/quote] We had these PCs both 386 and 486 at work they were very good in their day but the memory is very small by today's standards.You usually get that message if you try and boot up (start) with a floppy disk already in the A drive. If there is no disk in the A drive then the message is because it was removed without saving the data and so the PC thinks its still there. So if there is a floppy disk in the A drive remove it, if not then you must put back the one that was in it when it was turned off. You could also try and start up in Safe mode that might allow any data to be saved or the offending data to be deleted.Livebox problem, just turn it off and turn it back on again or use the reset button, they seem to benefit from a rest evbery now and then. However, I think orange has problems as the speed has been variable for a couple of week or so, plus lots of E mail access problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pointroll Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 The computer is trying to tell you that it cannot locate the files it requires to start up. These files are NOT on any floppy disk your son has inserted into the floppy drive. Ensure that there is no disk in either the computers' floppy drive (otherwise known as its A: drive), or the cd drive(also known as the dvd or usually D: drive) Switch on the computer. If you still get the error message the problem lies with a corrupted or faulty hard disk. Corrupted files MAY be replaced, normally by re-building the operating system (if you have the windows build disk or a compaq recovery disk), however you should first check the disk for physical errors. A faulty hard disk will require replacement and then the operating system restoring. Both of these jobs are best left for someone with enough experience to complete the task. Ask around if there is anyone able to perform this task for you at a reasonable cost. Any personal data (letters, photos etc) on the hard disk MAY be recoverable to another system, but this again is a job for someone with the experience to complete the task .....Ho-hum....who'd have a computer!! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu-le-brew Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Hi - I have sent you a PM with an offer of helpStu-the-brew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 In my experience of Compaq PC's, professional I have to say not consumer, they did not come with recovery or install CD's, recovery, when necessary, was via a hidden partition on the HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Roy Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 [quote user="Ron Avery"] However, I think orange has problems as the speed has been variable for a couple of week or so, plus lots of E mail access problems.[/quote]Glad you happen to mention that Ron, I thought it was just a problem with my e-mail connection, very slow at the moment.[:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Yes it is and has been like it since 10 c.e.t, maybe its the use of the internet for transferring all this money being released for house buying, or for trousering by bankers[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 My money is still on a disk in the A drive!! But will we ever know????????? If its the hard drive he might as well bin it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pointroll Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Mines on a fried Hdd! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tournesol Posted October 16, 2008 Author Share Posted October 16, 2008 Hello Thanks for your replies . No disks in anywhere so looks like it is a problem with the hard drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Have you tried getting into the BIOS on bootup?That way you could disable the A: drive or try telling it to boot from disc and put a DOS boot disk in the A: drive. You could even examine the hard drive for errorsAnother thing to do is bootup in safe mode and have a poke around.Final thought, is it possible this is a virus that has attacked the boot sector of the hard drive? If it is an old machine that has not been used for a while I would'nt think it had any virus protection on it so if you start messing about with various disks, who knows what might be on them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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