On 13 Aug 2003 at 19:50, Sonya Carlson wrote:
>I am hoping this is the proper place to ask. I was using a 486 Zenith
> with MS-DOS 3.3 until it stopped working today. When I turned it on,
> the only thing that came on the screen was the error message "This is
> not a bootable partition". Pressing F2 does nothing. Any
> suggestions anyone? I don't know the Bios because that doesn't come
> up now.
>
Dear Sonya,
This is indeed the place to ask.
It would appear that your computer no longer "believes" that the hard
drive has valid data on it. This could be from a number of causes, but
basically two effects:
1. The hard drive has died
2. The hard drive's data in the section which is used during start up
has become invalid or damaged.
The first has only one resolution: replace the hard drive. Listen for
the sound of the hard drive when the computer starts; is it the same as
before the problem started? If not, then it's quite likely the hard
drive has died, and will need to be replaced.
The second has a number of resolutions, but one simple test is to start
the computer from a DOS diskette, placed in the first floppy disk
drive. If, once the computer has started up, and you've answered the
time and date prompts (if any), you can type the command:
DIR C:
and pressing <Enter>. If you get back any listing of files, then the
problem is likely to be fairly easy to fix, by fixing the MBR [Master
Boot Record]
If you do not get back a listing of files after typing in that command,
then it's likely that the drive is going to have to be reformatted and
everything re-installed from the original disks. It may be possible to
save data on the system, but you'll need to get someone local to you to
examine it.
In either case, some of the older Zeniths used, if I recall correctly,
Ctrl-Alt-Insert as the key sequence to get into the BIOS. I would also
try the Del key as a possibility. I'm not sure how useful this tidbit
will be to you, but it may help any tech you can find to look at your
computer.
If you like, please feel free to follow up your post with additional
information, including any odd noises you hear, or other messages which
you might see on the screen.
Hope this helps,
Anthony Albert
===========================================================
Anthony J. Albert [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Systems and Software Support Specialist Postmaster
Computer Services - University of Maine, Presque Isle
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