Invalid System Disc

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Clare - 22 Jan 2004 07:49 GMT

I cannot start my computer because of this message, but
there is no disc in the pc..Could anybody help me out

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Tim Slattery - 22 Jan 2004 13:47 GMT

>I cannot start my computer because of this message, but
>there is no disc in the pc..Could anybody help me out

In that case, it's having trouble trying to boot from C:.

Boot from a floppy. If you don't have a startup floppy, get one from
www.bootdisk.com. That will get you to a DOS prompt (probably A:>).
Now type:

sys c:

That should put the proper files in the root of C: to make it
bootable. Now remove the floppy and try to boot from the hard drive.

Signature

Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)
Slattery_T@bls.gov

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Alana - 23 Jan 2004 03:08 GMT

I'm having the same problem as "clare"...I have a IBM ThinkPad running
win95b and I was getting that "invalid system disk, insert disk and press
any key" message. I did what you told Clare and downloaded a bootdisk for
win95b. I ran the bootdisk and after I put in sys c: I get a message that
says "You are overwriting system files from a different version of MS-DOS or
Windows. The system files you are installing will only work with the
version of Windows for which they are intended. Are you sure you want to
proceed (Y/N)? I would like to know what exactly does that message mean and
should I proceed by entering YES?

> >I cannot start my computer because of this message, but
> >there is no disc in the pc..Could anybody help me out
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> That should put the proper files in the root of C: to make it
> bootable. Now remove the floppy and try to boot from the hard drive.

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Haggis - 23 Jan 2004 14:07 GMT

if you say "yes" you will probably get incorrect version errors later...are
you sure of your version? 95 A,B or C

you need the correct boot disk

> I'm having the same problem as "clare"...I have a IBM ThinkPad running
> win95b and I was getting that "invalid system disk, insert disk and press
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> > That should put the proper files in the root of C: to make it
> > bootable. Now remove the floppy and try to boot from the hard drive.

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Tim Slattery - 23 Jan 2004 14:09 GMT

>I'm having the same problem as "clare"...I have a IBM ThinkPad running
>win95b and I was getting that "invalid system disk, insert disk and press
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>proceed (Y/N)? I would like to know what exactly does that message mean and
>should I proceed by entering YES?

Eeesh...I hate this sort of thing.

The "sys" command wants to write two (I think) files to the root of
your C: drives. They are marked "hidden" and "system", so you normally
don't see them when you look there. You can use the "attrib" command
to see them, just type "attrib" on the command line after navigating
to C:\.

Those files are necessary for your computer to boot, and since your
computer won't boot, I assume that they are busted.

So what do you do now? Hmm... I think I'd use the attrib command to
reset the attributes on the existing files (attrib -h -s <filename>
once you find out what the file names are), then rename them. Now run
the sys command, then see whether you can now boot from the hard
drive. If not, you can restore your previous configuration by deleting
the new copies, renaming the originals back to their original names
and using "attrib" to restore their attributes. You'll be no better
and no worse off than you are now.

Signature

Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)
Slattery_T@bls.gov

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