I'm having some problems booting my computer into Windows 98. My computer is about 3 or 4 years old. My problems seemed to start when I upgraded to Adobe Acrobat 6.0, after installing it my computer would freeze up when I attempted to shut it down. I imagine an incorrect shutdown caused some problems on my hard drive and after this boot up problems began. I used a bootdisk to boot into windows and uninstalled adobe and since then windows will shutdown properly but it still won't boot up without the bootdisk. Pretty much what happens is when I start the computer up BIOS does the memory tests but when it gets to checking my 2 hard drives it says they cannot be detected. To get it to boot into windows I put in the boot disk, let it copy its files, then turn the computer off and turn it back on it and it starts up with the BIOS detecting everything like normal. The computer runs fine once I get it booted up. I do receive an error message after running the boot disk that says along these lines "the partitions on the disk cannot be found." I'm not exactly sure what's wrong but I'm thinking it's something to do with the boot record being messed up. Does anyone know what I need to do to get my system to boot again like normal without the use of a Boot Disk? Thanks for your help!

"To get it to boot into windows I put in the boot disk, let it copy its files" Say what now? First & foremost, the drives must be recognized in the BIOS - not much will happen if they aren't, that's a whole different (and primary) 'level' before any OS related operations can be performed Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is not more a science than a heap of stones is a home

another thing I wanted to add, When starting up the computer the BIOS does the memory test then I get the following; AUTO-DETECTING PRI DRIVE: NOT DETECTED AUTO-DETECTING SEC DRIVE: NOT DETECTED Then I get the following message... Novell Netware Ready Firmware V1.00 analyzing network media type, this may take several seconds... RPL ROM ADR 000D-87D7-B4D9 RPL ROM IRQ 5 RPL ROM PIO D800 RPL ROM FFC (counts from 1 to 50) boot failure reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device press any key when ready ** I believe the Novell Netware is related to my network adapter (SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter) ** This is where it gets kinda weird. After this error I can restart the computer over and over or turn the computer off and on multiple times and get the same Novell Netware error but if I restart it with the windows boot disk and let it read the bootdisk, then turn off the computer for a few seconds and turn it back on, the BIOS will detect the Hard Drives like normal and boot up windows normally. I'm not sure why it does this, you would think the bootdisk wouldn't be doing anything since I turn the computer off and on again after letting the computer read the boot disk. Another thing I've noticed is once I have my computer running awhile and its warmed up I can turn the computer off and on and restart it without any problems, it seems to run into the errors when its starting up after being off for a few hours. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing the problem or know what the Novell Netware error could be cause from? I appreciate any help! Thanks!

It sounds like booting on floppy is simply giving the HDs time to 'warm up' and the the linkage to Adobe is coincidental. As we say, a purely temporal sequence does not imply causality. You may have a sluggish / failing HD. Or a sluggish / failing CD. Try the main HD by itself. [disconnect all other IDE devices] If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

The RPL error indicates that the computer did not find a valid boot disc. So it has tried to boot off the network. Make sure that you have backed up any data that you don't want to lose. As your hard drive(s) may be about to fail. Another possibility is the power supply is struggling to supply enough 12V. If you have recently added any new hardware, you will need to upgrade you power supply. Overloading a psu can cause voltage spikes which in turn might destroy any component in the computer.

I haven't changed anything around on my computer since I added a 120 GB slave drive to my system about 2 years ago. The original 30 GB hard drive is a about 4 years old so its possible it could be failing. The weird thing is how it only wants to boot up after I put in the boot disk and then turn the computer off and turn it back on without the boot disk in the floppy drive. Weird Could it be my CMOS battery is failing? One thing I was thinking is if the battery is getting low, the warm up time may not be warming up the hard drive, but giving the CMOS battery a short recharge. Think that could be the cause of the problem?

Thing is, the bootdisk has nothing to do with anything - you could go and have a cup of coffee and get the same effect. Until the drives are recognized in the BIOS, whatever you may do in the interim will be of no consequence - as suggested, seems like the drives need time to spool up - some BIOS allow you to add a delay, or possibly you can disable any sort of 'quick POST' etc CMOS batteries don't as a rule recharge - weak ones may 'come back to life' as the system heats up - that's just chemistry. HDD recognition is pretty much automatic, so the battery is not likely the culprit. If the system keeps time well when off, you can rule that out completely Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is not more a science than a heap of stones is a home